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LEISURE MOMENl^ SERIES. 


Miss Bayle's Romance 

7 


A STORY OF TO-DAY 

n 



A' 


H OF 


MAY 16 188/V 


WASH-Hgi^ 


NEW YORK 

. HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
1887 




CONTENTS. 


ClfAPTER. 

PAGE. 


I. 

A Meeting at Monte Carlo, 

. I 


II. 

A New and an Old Englander, . 

6 

■/ 

III. 

Rupert Wentworth’s Career, 

. 12 


' IV.' 

Lord Plowden’s Progress, 

23 

• 

fv. 

The Principality of Monaco, . 

. 28 


VI, 

Shoddy Aristocrats, .... 

33 


VII. 

Sight-seeing and Gossip, .... 

. 40 


VIII, 

Letters Home, 

48 

' 

XI, 

Introduced to Prince of Wales, 

. 58 


X. 

On Board the “ Atalanta,” . 

66 


XI. 

A Croupier’s Adventui^w^^ 

• 77 


XII. 

Rupert Wentworth’s Wooing, 

87 


XIII. 

Play and Players on the Riviera, 

• 95 


XIV. 

Love-making and Catching Whales, . 

105 


XV. 

Rupert Wentworth Proposes, 

. 114 


XVI. 

The Bayles in Paris, .... 

124 


XVII. 

The Noble Savage and his Friends, 

. 136 


XVIII. 

A Millionaire’s Rise in the World, . 

149 


XIX. 

The Millionaire in London, 

. 164 


XX. 

The Duke of Windsor, .... 

177 


XXI. 

The Millionaire has “ a Good Time,” . 

M 

00 

.Hr 

XXII. 

Visiting Palaces and Parliament, 

. 205 


XXIII. 

Exit Tom Bates. Enter a Welsh Bard, 

. 217 


XXIV. 

Rupert Wentworth’s Despair, 

225 


XXV. 

At Druid’s Mount, 

• 23s 







IV 


• ’ ’^L- - ■ 

CONTENTS. 


'T 

- CHAPTER. - PAGE. 

^ *', XXVI. Miss Bayle at Bay,. 250 

^ XXVII. The Bayles at Homburg, ^ . . . . 262 

XXVIII. Old and New Play at Homburg, . . 273 

XXIX. Cornering the Bears, . . , 282 

XXX. Uncle Cecil’s End, 293 

XXXI. A Remarkable American, 308 

XXXII. Elsa Passes Away, 322 

XXXIII. Journalistic Enterprise and Dueling, . . 336 

XXXIV. Lord Plowden Eton Propose*, . . . 346 

XXXV. Lord Plowden Contests Slough, . . 355 

XXXVI. The Press on the Election, . . . 365 



MISS BAYLE’S ROMANCE. 


CHAPTER I. 

A MEETING AT MONTE CARLO. 

\ 7ES, sir, the place seems just perfectly lovely.” 

X The speaker was Miss Alma J. Bayle, of 
Chicago, Illinois, in the United States of America. 
She had arrived at Monte Carlo, in the Principality 
of Monaco, a few hours previously, and she had seen 
enough when approaching it by rail from Nice, when 
driving from the railway station to the hotel and 
when looking from the window of her room there, to 
justify her in pronouncing it eminently beautiful. 

Miss Bayle was accompanied without being con- 
trolled by her mother, whose chief end in life appeared 
to be decking herself with diamonds and assenting to 
the observations and humoring the fancies of her 
daughter and only child. Thus, on the present occa- 
sion, when Miss Bayle made a personal appeal to her 
.mother in these words, “ Isn’t that so, mother ? ” Mrs. 
Bayle dutifully replied, “ That’s so, Almy.” 

The gentleman whose question had elicited Miss 
Bayle’s remark was Mr. Rupert Wentworth, a native 
of the capital of Massachusetts. He was accustomed 
to dine, in company with an English acquaintance, at 
the table cT hdte of the Hotel de Londfes^ in which Mrs. 
Bayle and her daughter had taken up their abode. 
Neither of them staid in the hotel, but both liked 


2 


MISS BA VlE'S ROMAMCB. 


dining there better than at the Hdtel de Paris, where 
they had rooms. They both professed to prefer the 
cooking at the Londres. It was certainly very good. 
Neither, however, had the candor to avow the truth, 
which was that the real inducement was the prospect 
of a chat before or after dinner with Madame de 
Payan, the charming and most courteous landlady. 
If an equally pleasant landlady had been at the Paris, 
they might have dined there regularly. 

Mr. Wentworth was not in the habit of speaking to 
the new-comers who were seated opposite to or near 
him at dinner. Most of the persons at table had 
long passed middle life and were chiefly concerned 
with the chances of gaming, a subject about which he 
cared nothing. Moreover, it was the exception for 
him to see at table any one so young and apparently 
unsophisticated as Miss Bayle, who had not attained 
her twentieth year and who had recently crossed the 
Atlantic for the first time. 

Like many unmarried men under forty, or over 
eighty, Mr. Wentworth was instantly fascinated by 
very pretty girls under twenty. Miss Bayle being 
sprightly and unaffected as well as beautiful and 
young, Mr. Wentworth was the more anxious to make 
her acquaintance. Accordingly, at that stage of a 
dinner when the appetite is partly satisfied, when the 
pauses between courses seem rather long, when several 
glasses of wine have been drunk and when the desire 
to converse with some one is either awakened or in- 
tensified, Mr. Wentworth ventured upon a common- 
place remark to the lovely young lady across the table 
and he received the reply which has been recorded. 

Scarcely had Miss Bayle made that reply and re- 
ceived her mother’s assent, than her mother, looking 
earnestly at Mr. Wentworth, said — 

“ I guess, sir, you’re an American.” 

A scrupulous respect for truth being the distin- 
guishing mark and merit of all those who are worthy 
to be the countrymen of George Washington, Mr. 


A MEETING AT MONTE CARLO, 3 

Wentworth unhesitatingly answered in the affirmative ; 
yet, as a member of the best society in Boston, he was 
slightly annoyed at the rapidity with which his speech 
had bewrayed him. Gifted with many virtues, 
Bostonians have the failing of pluming themselves 
upon speaking a remarkably good form of English. 
They harbor the notion that they have preserved pure 
and unchanged the accent and the phrases which 
Endicott brought from England in the Abigail and 
Winthrop in the Arbella. Mr. Wentworth, fancying 
that he had lost the intonation of his native land, 
thought it strange that a fellow-countrywoman should 
have been so quick in detecting his nationality by 
his tongue, and he was the more surprised because his 
English companion had often told him that he 
spoke his mother-tongue without any trace of an 
American accent. It was with pride that he said, 
after avowing his nationality, 

“ I belong to Boston.” 

The natives of the capital of Massachusetts are 
almost as emphatic in the tone and self-satisfied in 
the manner they proclaim themselves Bostonians as 
Frenchmen are when they proclaim themselves Paris- 
ians. 

Mrs. Bayle and her daughter honestly felt and 
avowed that they were delighted to meet with a fellow- 
countryman. Mrs. Bayle was still more pleased than 
her daughter, because, she, too, was a New Englander 
by birth. She told Mr. Wentworth : 

“ I was raised in Vermont, sir, but I have not been 
home since I settled in Chicago. My husband, Mr. 
Ezra P. Bayle, comes from the same state, but has 
lived so long in Illinois that he has become quite a 
Westerner.” 

Mr. Wentworth .mentioned his own name and, in 
the conversation which ensued, he learned that Mr. 
Bayle having “ made his pile ” — in other words having 
grown rich — had arranged to visit Europe and spend 
a^ear there, but that unexpected and pressing busi- 


4 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


ness had compelled him to remain behind. He had 
arranged, however, that his wife and daughter should 
precede him, his intention being to join them at Nice. 
In order to smooth the way for them he took tickets 
by the Cunard line as far as Genoa, so that the ladies 
had simply to change at Liverpool from the steamer 
in which they arrived from America and go on board 
one of the same company bound for the Mediterra- 
nean. From Genoa to Nice they could journey by rail 
in a few hours. 

While Mr. Wentworth was obtaining these particu- 
lars from Mrs. Bayle, his companion. Lord Plowden 
Eton, was engaged in answering, as best he could, the 
questions with which her daughter plied him. He 
had never before had the privilege and excitement of 
being cross-examined by an American young lady. 
Miss Bayle’s personal knowledge of English gentle- 
men was very limited. Lord Plowden thought her 
speech very strange and her manner peculiar, if not 
eccentric. She considered him rather stiff and de- 
cidedly stupid. * 

By the time the dessert was handed round, the ladies 
and gentlemen named above were as good friends as 
can fairly be expected,’ consiciering they had met each 
other for the first time at a dinner-table. The ladies 
avowed that they were entire strangers in Monte Carlo. 
The gentlemen, who knew it thoroughly, offered their 
services as escorts. Their offer was readily accepted, 
Mrs. Bayle saying to them, “ We shall be very pleased 
if you will show us around." Many American ladies 
who have not lived long in Europe expect the first 
gentlemen with whom they form an acquaintance to 
pay them attention as a matter of course, and they do 
so on the rational ground that the duty and pleasure 
of gentlemen consist in being attentive and agreeable 
to ladies. The feeling of American ladies in this 
matter is better understood in England than in France, 
or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say that 
Frenchmen often misinterpret the feelings of American 


A MEETING AT MONTE CAa'LO. 5 

ladies and have no conception of the true chivalry of 
American gentlemen. 

Before the party separated, Mrs. Bayle asked Mr. 
Wentworth the name of his companion. Thereupon 
Mr. Wentworth introduced him as Lord Plowden 
Eton. Mrs. Bayle expressed her pleasure at making 
the acquaintance of a member of the British legisla- 
ture. When Lord Plowden intimated that he had not 
the honor of a seat in Parliament, both the ladies 
looked surprised and they were on the point of ex- 
pressing the hope that he was not a “ bogus ” lord, like 
the Lord Gordon who had imposed upon so many of 
their countrymen. 

However, Mr. Wentworth instantly divined their 
thoughts, and he relieved them from all anxiety as to 
the genuineness of Lord Plowden’s rank by saying that 
peers’ younger sons were not necessarily members of 
Parliament, adding that, while some could not attain 
that distinction, others, like Lord Plowden Eton, 
might easily succeed if they tried. He concluded his 
explanation by announcing that Lord Plowden was the 
second son of the Duke of Windsor. Mrs. Bayle and 
her daughter, being suddenly impressed with the fact 
that they were in the presence of the son of an English 
duke, exclaimed simultaneously, “ You don’t say ! ” 


CHAPTER II. 


A NEW AND AN OLD ENGLANDER. 

M r. RUPERT WENTWORTH and Lord Plowden 
Eton had made each other’s acquaintance in the 
restaurant of the H6tel de Paris at Monte Carlo, and 
they had become bosom friends notwithstanding or, 
it may be, in consequence of the many points erf differ- 
ence between them. Each interested and puzzled the 
other. The American found the Englishman a curious 
study ; the Englishman had never before been on a 
familiar footing with any one like the American. 

Lord Plowden was replete with good old English 
tastes and prejudices. He looked upon life from a 
purely practical point of view, having never been 
blessed with illusions. He was not ambitious, nor did 
he envy many of his neighbors. His mental horizon 
was limited. He did not assume that he had a mis- 
sion to put the world right ; on the contrary, he was 
fully satisfied with the world as he found it, though he 
might have been better pleased had Providence made 
him enter it before his elder brother. Yet he was too 
unimaginative and rational to worry himself about 
arrangements over which he had no control. So long 
as he had plenty of hunting, shooting, yachting, and 
horse-racing, he was as happy and contented with his 
lot as a duke’s younger son can well be. 

Though obliged to forego several luxuries. Lord 
Plowden lived in comfort. His father, his relatives, 
and his friends were always ready to entertain him with 
a good dinner and house him for the night. He did 
not toil, excepting when laboriously amusing himself ; 


A NEW AND AN OLD ENGLANDER. 


7 


he could not spin even to earn a meal, yet he wanted 
little that was really necessary and he had no dread of 
ending his days in a work-house. He could not afford 
to keep a yacht, hire a moor, or train race-horses, yet 
he could always find a berth and a welcome in a friend’s 
yacht, could get as much shooting, during the season, 
as he desired and, like all the world, he could attend 
horse-races. He accepted invitations to festivities 
with pleasure and, being a younger son with a small 
allowance, he was dispensed from wasting his substance 
by entertaining in return. ^ 

Lord Plowden’s greatest difficulty in life consisted 
in paying the debts which he incurred through his 
fondness for the turf. He did not bet heavily, neither 
did he lose largely ; but he was put to as much incon- 
venience to pay a small loss as wealthy men were to 
pay an enormous one. The fact of his being a 
younger son without expectations saved him from in- 
curring heavy liabilities. Money-lenders set their 
faces against spendthrift habits in persons like him- 
self. 

One day, when dining with a friend at the Junior 
Carlton Club, he casually remarked that he was hard 
pressed for funds, though his debts did not amount to 
more than a quarter’s allowance. His friend said he 
was sorry to hear it, and inquired, “ Have you read 
this week’s Truth ? ” Lord Plowden had neglected to 
drink at that fount of undefiled English and informa- 
tion. His friend advised him to turn to Truth and 
ponder what was therein written about making money 
at Monte Carlo by playing on a particular system. 

The philanthropic editor communicated that system 
to his fellow-men after having found by experience 
that it was not worse than any other. The system, 
which was alleged to have been discovered by a great 
French philosopher, had been tested and simplified by 
the editor. It was with deep gratitude to the editor 
that Lord Plowden mastered the system, which ap- 
peared to combine the two admirable requisites of 


Af/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


perfect simplicity and absolute certainty. The player 
who followed it was not only on the high road to for- 
tune, but he required little capital to start with. 

As the result of earnest calculation Lord Plowden 
felt confident that the system, if carefully followed 
at a gaming table, would enable him to acquire more 
money in a week than he was in the habit of receiving 
from his father in a year. He had the further antici- 
pation of becoming very rich if he chose to play 
long enough. He was just able to sciape together 
the minimum sum wherewith to begin making a for- 
tune, and to pay for a ticket to Monte Carlo. After 
arriving there he hastened to the Casino ; obtained a 
ticket of admission to the gaming rooms and began 
to play. In the course of fifteen minutes he had lost 
all his capital. He did not blame the system. More 
than once he seemed on the point of winning largely, 
when an unexpected turn in the game upset his cal- 
culations. If he had played in the opposite manner to 
that which he did, he would have won a considerable 
amount. But he did not perceive his mistake till too 
late, as is the common experience and fate of game- 
sters. He left the gaming rooms bankrupt in all but 
hope. He bemoaned his bad luck rather than his 
folly. He consoled and deluded himself with the re- 
flection that, if his luck had been better and his capi- 
tal larger, his most sanguine expectations would have 
been realized. 

Lord Plowden went to bed and dreamed that he was 
a millionaire. With empty pockets and a heavy heart 
he sat down to breakfast the next morning. He had 
not even taken the precaution of obtaining a return 
ticket. When he left London he pictured himself re- 
turning with his pockets stuffed with notes or weighty 
with gold. Now he was penniless. Being gifted 
with a good appetite and elastic spirits, he was not 
long anxious and depressed and he resolved to post- 
pone the consideration of ways and means till after 
breakfast. He ordered all the delicacies of the season 


A NEW AND AN OLD ENGLANDER. 


9 


and did full justice to them. It was when ending a 
sumptuous and costly repast with strawberries which 
were charged a franc each that he made Mr. Went- 
worth’s acquaintance. 

They were seated at adjacent tables in the restaurant 
of the Hdtel de Paris. Mr. Wentworth had bought the 
last number of Le Figaro at the kiosque facing the 
hotel, before sitting down to breakfast. Lord Plowden 
Eton did not read French newspapers and the En- 
glish ones had not arrived. Having dispatched Lc 
Figaro and the greater part of his breakfast and being 
tired of gazing at the wall while waiting for the last 
course, Mr. Wentworth made a remark to his neighbor 
about the weather and then he proceeded to the next 
topic of interest at Monte Carlo — the gaming tables. 
He seldom entered the gaming rooms, and when he 
did so it was in the capacity of an unconcerned and 
impartial spectator. The previous night he had en- 
tered them and had been attracted by the play of Lord 
Plowden, whom he perceived to be a new-comer and 
a novice. 

“ I saw you play,” he said, “ and I must admit that 
luck was against you. Your system seldom breaks 
down quite so soon.” 

“ But how did you know what system I was play- 
ing ? ” 

“ If you had been longer here you would not ask 
that question ; the Truth system is as well-known as 
the hours at which the trains start. Most of the new- 
comers play it and lose their money. Perhaps their 
failure is owing to their not having the coolness or the 
capital of its inventor. But if you had persevered 
longer you would have won fifty thousand francs.” 

“ The fact is I had enough of the game so, I went 
off ; ” he did not like to avow that he was obliged to 
go because he had no money left. 

■ When the pair had finished breakfasting they left 
the restaurant together and strolled toward the gar- 
dens. Tn the course of conversation Lord Plowden 


10 


Miss BA YLMS ROMANCE. 


referred to his father, the Duke of AVindsor. Mr. 
Wentworth knew the duke by name and, though he 
had taken a liking to his new acquaintance for his own 
sake, he yet felt more kindly disposed toward him on 
learning that he was the son of a distinguished father. 
He liked him for another and a more selfish reason. 
Lord Plowden had offered him a cigar which Mr. 
Wentworth found to be far superior to any that he had 
smoked during his sojourn at Monte Carlo, where good 
cigars are almost as scarce as in Italy or Spain. 

After conversing together for a time, Mr. Went- 
worth asked Lord Plowden whether he meant to try 
and win back what he had lost. The latter candidly 
avowed that he should like to do so above all things, 
but that he had not enough money left and that he 
must make shift to get on as best he could till a remit- 
tance arrived. Mr. AVentworth did not infer from this 
that his companion was absolutely penniless for the 
moment ; yet, if he had done so, his kindly impulse 
would not have been checked. AVith a generosity if 
not recklessness which English-speaking strangers 
often display to each other in foreign lands, he offered 
to lend Lord Plowden whatever he required for his 
present needs ; the offer was accepted with unfeigned 
thanks. Lord Plowden said that a few pounds would 
suffice. He had resolved not to play again till he had 
received a remittance and repaid this loan. Though 
culpably indifferent about owing money to tradesmen, 
he disliked being in debt to a friend longer than he 
could possibly help. He entertained and acted upon 
the old-fashicned notions about the sacredness of 
debts of honor. 

From the morning upon which Mr. AA'entworth and 
Lord Plowden Eton first exchanged words their inti- 
macy grew closer and more cordial. They walked and 
talked together. They compared notes on many sub- 
jects and they learned how different were their views 
of life and persons. They got on all the better 
because they had little in common. Each learned 


A NEW AND AN OLD ENGLANDER. 


II 


something from the other. However, after ten"^ys’ 
constant companionship, they were becoming slightly 
tired of each other’s society. Then it was that they 
made the acquaintance of Mrs. Bayle and her daugh- 
ter at the table dlhote of the Hotel de Londres. 


CHAPTER III. 

RUPERT Wentworth’s career. 

M r. RUPERT WENTWORTH and Lord Plowden 
Eton differed as much in personal appearance 
as they did in their ideas and their aims. The former 
was a good representative of a class which is still 
small in America : the latter was an excellent speci- 
men of a class which is gradually becoming smaller 
in England.. Mr. Wentworth, being ten years the 
senior of Lord Plowden, is entitled to precedence. 
Irrespective of this, his character is so peculiar and 
noteworthy as to merit special attention and repay 
careful study. 

The only child of a Boston merchant, Mr. Rupert 
Wentworth was eighteen when the heroic struggle for 
the maintenance of the Union was nearing its decisive 
and inevitable issue. He was then at Harvard Universi- 
ty. He told his parents that he wished to go to the war as 
so many of his fellow-students had done. They refused 
to give him permission, not because they were loth to 
part with him, but because his health was very delicate. 
Not least among the many glories of Massachusetts 
was the alacrity with which her sons rushed to the 
front when the integrity of their country was menaced, 
and no father or mother, no sister or sweetheart, 
seemed even to grudge the lives of those dearest to 
them when these lives were sacrificed in order that 
the Union might be preserved. Young Rupert Went- 
worth’s parents opposed his going to battle not be- 
cause he might fall, but because he might die or be 
incapacitated for fighting before reaching the front. 


RUPERT WENTWORTirS CAREER. 


13 


Rupert was too much imbued with the spirit of the 
university, which was thoroughly belligerent, as 
well as too much in earnest to submit to be thwarted 
in his project. Accordingly, after yielding to his 
parents’ wishes for some years, until the magnitude of 
the struggle appealed to his conscience as well as his 
enthusiasm, he suddenly left Harvard without giving 
notice to his parents in Boston and enlisted in a regi- 
ment which had been raised to re-enforce the Army of 
the Potomac under General Grant. He saw little 
fighting, being taken prisoner during the last battle of 
the Wilderness and dispatched to the Confederate 
prison in Richmond. 

Though Rupert had done little, he had done his 
best,- and displayed plenty of pluck. But his parents 
were in the right. His chest was then very delicate 
and the exposure to which he had been subjected as a 
private soldier, followed by the hardships he had to 
undergo as a prisoner, prostrated him on a bed of 
sickness. His life was in danger from a severe attack 
of inflammation of the lungs. He recovered suffi- 
ciently to permit of his removal to his Northern home 
immediately after Grant captured Richmond, yet it 
seemed as if his days would be few or that he would 
never be other than a confirmed invalid. Happily he 
had an untainted constitution, so that consumption 
did not take remorseless hold of him. Careful nurs- 
ing aided his complete recovery. 

A circumstance of which his mother knew nothing 
rendered his recovery more difficult. As soon as the 
doctor gave permission for visitors to see him, the first 
caller was a cousin Julia Barton who, in an outburst 
of enthusiasm, called him “ a brave boy,” clasped him 
in her arms and kissed him repeatedly. This was the 
first time he had been kissed by her since they were 
children and playmates, when kissing was so much a 
matter of course as to be commonplace and unexciting. 
She added, “ I am so glad to see you back, Rupert, 
and I suppose you will be pleased to hear that I an?, 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


engaged to be married to Newton Jones, and that the 
wedding takes place next week. The news deprived the 
kiss of its savor and greatly shocked Rupert who had 
long cherished an ardent affection for his cousin and 
contemplated asking her to be his wife. She on her 
part had never suspected the existence of this 
feeling. 

He had a hard struggle both to keep his secret and 
to conceal his emotion from her, and the effort was 
hurtful to him. His mental suffering was extreme. 
He felt sure that his heart was broken ; he believed 
that the sun of his life was eclipsed forever. Yet he 
did not wish to die ; indeed, he was too practical an 
American to dream of committing suicide through love 
for his cousin and he simply vowed, with all the em- 
phasis and sincerity of a love-sick youth of nineteen, 
that he would never marry. 

Far more trying than the heart-ache which he 
deemed incurable was the shock caused by his father’s 
sudden death in Virginia, whither he had gone to look 
after some property which he had bought there before 
the war. His father’s death was the more unex- 
pected because he was a hale man who had never suf- 
fered from illness. Perhaps had he been more deli- 
cate he might have lived longer. His recklessness in 
neglecting an attack of fever was the cause of his pre- 
mature decease. Rupert’s mother did not long sur- 
vive her husband. She had been an invalid for many 
years and his death was a blow from which she never 
rallied. Thus, shortly after attaining his majority, 
Mr. Rupert Wentworth was his own master. 

He was not so rich as he had anticipated. On retir- 
ing from business, his father had invested a good deal 
of money in land at the South ; but, owing to the war, 
this investment was almost worthless. Like many other 
Bostonians he had invested a little money in a Lake 
Superior copper mine ; he was less fortunate, however, 
than some of his friends, because, while the mines in 
which they had held shares returned large profits, h\s 


RUPERT WENTWORTirs CAREER. 15 

venture was always absorbing fresh capital. The re- 
mainder of his capital was invested in United States 
bonds and house property near Bokon, from which the 
annual income of about five thousand dollars or one 
thousand pounds sterling was derived. Mr. Wentworth 
was not only his own master, but he also had enough 
money wherewith to live in idleness or in the prosecu- 
tion of some honorable task which would be at once 
an occupation and reward. His Boston friends talked 
of him as being comparatively poor. In certain cir- 
cles of New York and of other American cities he 
would be regarded as little better than a pauper. 
In European cities poverty such as his would be ac- 
cepted by their inhabitants with equanimity, if not with 
considerable pleasure. 

Three courses were open to him in the opinion of 
his friends and relations. First, he might go into 
business ; second, he might embrace a profession ; third 
and worst, he might become a politician. For busi- 
ness of all kinds he had a distaste ; he had no 
inclination for law or medicine, and he disliked the 
practice of politics on the ground that those who 
entered upon it were either rascals at the outset or 
else became so in the end. During his illness he had 
read many books without any other object than to 
pass the time. Having met with one by Mr. Herbert 
Spencer he was so impressed by it that he got all the 
works of that writer, the result of his perusal being 
to make him join the American host of Mr. Herbert 
Spencer’s admirers and followers. An even better 
result was the awakening in him of a desire for self- 
improvement. He became conscious of his own igno- 
rance. He could not return to Harvard University 
and resume his studies among the younger men there. 
Yet he feared that, if he did not study with something 
of the system which is indispensable when following a 
university course, his reading would be too desultory 
to be fruitful. When at a loss what to do, he learned 
that an acquaintance was about to start for Heidel- 


1 6 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

berg to study chemistry under Professor Bunsen. 
He resolved to go with him in order to study phi- 
losophy there. 

Mr. Wentworth and his companion went to New 
York, whence they sailed for Bremen in a steamer of 
the North German Lloyd Company and from Bremen 
they went by rail to Heidelberg. He set himself to 
learn German and within three months’ time he had 
mastered that tongue sufficiently to justify him in 
attending lectures at the university. During the holi- 
days he made excursions to the Black Forest and 
Switzerland. 

At the end of three years, Mr. Wentworth returned 
to Boston intellectually richer than he left it. He had 
acquired at Heidelberg a fair knowledge of the Ger- 
man language and literature. During his travels in 
Switzerland he had picked up a little French. His 
greatest gain, however, was a more thorough knowl- 
edge of his own ignorance and an increased desire 
for study. His ambition had taken the form of a 
longing for self-culture. Though not idle during his 
absence, he had produced little that was worth naming. 
A few letters about German universities which he had 
sent to the New York Nation., his favorite critical 
journal, and a few sketches of travel sent to the Adver- 
tiser, which has long been the leading Boston news- 
paper, comprised all that he had written with a view 
to publication. Nor had he covered many sheets of 
manuscript with his -thoughts. He had never been 
able to write more than an outline of the great work 
which he meditated. Though he had committed few 
ideas to paper, he had a host in head. 

He thought Boston a very different city from that 
which he left three years before. It was changed in 
in some material aspects ; new streets had been formed 
and new houses built, but the old familiar scenes and 
places had not altered : the real and greatest change 
was in himself. He looked upon every thing from a 
new point of view. He brought back with him a 


RUPERT WENTWORTH'S CAREER, ij 

Standard of comparison which he did not possess at his 
departure. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean is a sort of 
liberal education. The American who has never vis- 
ited Europe can not properly appreciate America ; the 
European who has not visited America can not per- 
fectly understand Europe. 

Mr. Wentworth’s mind was widened by travel : his 
critical faculty was sharpened by study and observa- 
tion. He enjoyed to the full a wanderer’s greatest 
pleasure, a hearty welcome to his native land. All his 
relatives and friends were delighted to see him again 
and they paid him an amount of attention which he 
would not have received had he revolved for these 
three years within the narrow circle of local interests 
and concerns. 

They were surprised to learn that he had spent three 
years in Europe without even visiting London or 
Paris. They could not understand it. They deemed 
him guilty of an unpardonable omission. His expla- 
nation that he had gone to study at Heidelberg and 
had chosen the most direct route thither and back did 
not suffice. It was sagely inferred that there was 
some concealed and, possibly, not very creditable rea- 
son for his eccentric conduct. While he was in 
Europe his cousin Mrs, Jones, had become the mother 
of two children whom she showed him with pride ; 
he kissed them without any outward show of dislike. 
Even if she had given him the opportunity he would 
not have kissed her. He was quite reconciled to her 
marriage. He had some difficulty in realizing why he 
should ever have objected to it, and he was quite cer- 
tain that her marriage was not a conclusive reason 
why he should remain through life an inconsolable 
bachelor. He regarded marriage as well as Boston 
from a changed point of view. 

He staid with his uncle Cecil in the house in the 
old part of Beacon Street which formerly belonged to 
his father. Though made comfortable in the house of 
his birth, he never felt so little at home. He sighed 


1 8 MISS BAYLE'S ROMANCE, 

for his plainly furnished rooms across the bridge at 
Heidelberg. There he could carry on his studies far 
better than in his native city, where he was surrounded 
with luxuries such as few citizens of Heidelberg ever 
enjoyed. The humble cafe in the principal street of 
Heidelberg where he was in the habit of spending his 
evenings along with fellow-students of congenial tastes 
was. a miserable place compared with the Somerset 
Club in Beacon Street, of which he had become a 
member. The members of that Club were more 
addicted to gossip >Chan to discussing German phi- 
losophy. He felt himself out of sympathy with them, 
and he longed to be among his German friends, 
where he could enjoy plain fare and lofty speculation. 

His German friends had often talked to him about 
the capital of the United States and they could not 
understand why he knew and cared so little about 
it. He had visited Washington twice, once on his way 
to the front and again on returning from Richmond ; 
and he had not preserved such a favorable impression 
of it on either occasion as to desire to revisit it. One of 
his cousins, who had recently been appointed to preside 
over the Patent Office, invited Mr. Wentworth to pay 
him a visit in order to see something of Washington 
society. He accepted the invitation and spent 
the winter in Washington. He left Washington with- 
out regret and with a more intimate knowledge of the 
way in which his country is governed. He had plenty 
of amusement in the shape of dinner parties, receptions 
and balls. He obtained a clear insight into the mys- 
teries of party government and this dispelled many 
illusions about the patriotism of his fellows. His 
association with politicians rendered him more disin- 
clined than before to go into politics. Unsettled and 
dissatisfied, he grew most anxious to revisit Europe 
and continue his studies^here. An unexpected rebuff 
determined him to do so. 

His resolution to improve his mind by study was 
formed, as has been stated, after a perusal of the 


RUPERT WENTWORTH'S CAREER. 


19 


writings of Mr. Herbert Spencer. At Heidelberg he 
had studied philosophy and he found that the German 
philosophers were far profounder and much more 
obscure than Mr. Herbert Spencer. The perusal of 
the writings of Kant and Schelling, Fichte and Hegel, 
was no easy task and the result was to stimulate 
rather than to satisfy his curiosity. He thought that 
something could be said about the problem of exis- 
tence to which none of them had given expression. 
He wished to place his views before the public and 
was eager for an opportunity. 

The editor of the North American Review., who was 
a personal friend, one day asked him to write an 
article for the Review on some topic of general 
interest. Mr. Wentworth devoted three months to 
the composition of an article which he hoped would 
please the editor and enlighten the public. It was 
entitled The Problem of Existence. The editor did not 
keep it long : it is doubtful whether he read every word 
of it. On returning the article he used the honeyed 
phrases men employ when discharging a disagreeable 
duty, saying that he did not doubt it was a masterly ex- 
position of an obscure subject, that if it were expanded 
into a larger work Mr. Wentworth would take high 
rank among American thinkers, but that he feared 
the readers of the North American would not appreci- 
ate it. Within a week after receiving the editor’s 
letter, Mr. Wentworth was crossing the Atlantic on a 
Cunarder bound for Liverpool. 

Mr. Wentworth did not set foot on English shores 
with the expectation of being pleased with the country 
or the people. Like other Americans of his own age, 
at that time, he regarded England with jaundiced 
eyes. He had arrived at the conclusion that the 
English to a man were insanely jealous of America. 
While the great civil war was raging, the press of the 
North made a point of reproducing every thing in 
English newspapers which uncomplimentary to 
the Northern cause, and of omitting the many tokens 


20 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


of English sympathy with it. In the Southern news^ 
papers, England was denounced for unfriendliness 
toward the Confederacy, and the English Government, 
desiring to be neutral, offended both parties. 

The animosity which Mr. Wentworth entertained 
toward England was, he thought, heartily recipro- 
cated by Englishmen toward America. It was, then, 
with unutterable astonishment he learned that the mere 
fact of his being an American gentleman opened many 
houses and hearts to him. The cordiality with which 
he was received, the kindly and complimentary words 
in which he heard his country spoken of, led him 
to think that he was the victim of some delusion or 
misapprehension. 

A few letters of introduction, one or two being from 
Longfellow, proved passports to the pleasantest society 
in London. He dined out day after day. He spent 
some weeks in country houses, where he saw a form of 
life whereof his countrymen who stay at English hotels 
can form no conception. He was made an honorary 
member of the Athenaeum and Reform Clubs. The 
splendid libraries of both clubs were sources of great 
delight to him. In both he found study rendered easy 
and comfortable. The library of the Reform had the 
super-added charm of being the place wherein his 
venerable friend Dr. Palfrey, the historian of New 
England, had worked during a visit to England for the 
purpose of historical research. When at a loss where 
to find some rare book he had merely to visit the 
British Museum. He left London firmly convinced 
that no place could offer greater facilities for a student 
and half inclined to take up his abode there for a 
lengthened period. 

With Paris he was pleased for a different reason. 
He met many of his fellow-countrymen there ; and he 
felt a pleasure in associating with them when on foreign 
soil which he might not have experienced if he had 
met the same persons in America. Indeed, he soon 
began to feel that there was a good spice of America 


kVPERT WENTWORTH'S CAREER. 21 

in Europe, as well as a great deal that could not be 
found in America. 

He visited the principal places on the Continent 
which attract tourists. He spent a winter in Italy and 
earnestly strove to learn the principles of art in a land 
where art is nearly as attractive as Nature and where 
both are to be seen in a state of greater perfection than 
elsewhere. He spent a part of several summers at the 
fashionable watering-places of France and Germany. 
He revisited Heidelberg and he resumed his studies, 
yet he did not prosecute them with his former vigor. 
Many of his old acquaintances had departed and he 
could not easily form new ties. The truth is that he 
became too much of a wanderer to settle down to any 
prolonged effort. He was restless and he longed for 
change of scene and place. He always meant to give 
his mind to some great work, but he postponed from 
day to day exercising the necessary self-denial. His 
reading became “more desultory as his ideal receded 
into the distance. He had exchanged, almost uncon- 
sciously, the study of philosophy for the enjoyment of 
the passing hour. If he had been really able to enjoy 
himself the exchange would have been perfectly philo- 
sophical. He suffered the penalty of being unstable- 
as water. 

One morning.in Paris, when engaged in making good 
resolutions and considering as to the place where he 
should carry them into effect, he saw a few lines in 
Ze stating that the United States frigate Juniata^ 

under the command of Captain Popham, was lying 
in the harbor of Villefranche. This vessel comprised 
in itself the American fleet in European waters. The 
captain was an old university friend who left Har- 
vard to qualify himself at the Naval Academy for 
entering the navy, shortly before Wentworth left Har- 
vard to join the army. It occurred to him that he 
might go and compare notes with his old college com- 
panion and, at the same time, see Nice, which he had 
often thought of visiting. Within less than thirty-six 


22 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


hours after coming to this conclusion he was on board 
the Juniata and seated in the captain's cabin. 

He was cordially greeted and entertained, but it was 
not long before each recognized that he had little sym- 
pathy with the other. Captain Popham cared nothing 
for philosophy ; Mr. Wentworth could not understand 
the grievances upon which the officers of the United 
States Navy, in common with their English brethren, 
are always ready to descant. Both learned with re- 
gret that the castles which they had built when they 
were young and sanguine, had proved to be very fragile 
edifices, as bright and evanescent as the substance of 
dreams. The Juniata was under orders to sail the 
day after Mr. Wentworth went on board ; hence he 
could bid farewell to his college friend without feeling 
too keenly that the interview was a disappointment. 

Being at Nice, Mr. Wentworth naturally proceeded 
to Monte Carlo. The Casino at Monte Carlo was not 
the principal attraction, his desire benng to see a place 
about which he had read and heard much. He had 
visited Baden and Homburg when gaming tables were 
open there ; he had staked a few pieces at the tables, 
but he had not become addicted to play and he much 
preferred the part of a spectator. But while the 
Casino afforded him no special gratification, the place 
itself charmed him beyond measure. He went with 
the intention of staying a few days. When he made 
the acquaintance of Lord Plowden Eton, he had been 
there three months. He could not tell how long his 
sojourn might continue. For the first time since he 
lost his heart to his cousin and then lost her by mar- 
riage, he had fallen in love. 


CHAPTER IV. 


LORD PLOWDEN'S PROGRESS. 

T hough Lord Plowden Eton was ten years 
younger than Mr. Wentworth, and though he had 
seen much less of the world, yet his knowledge of 
some varieties of life was much more extensive and 
profound. He was happily constituted. From boy- 
hood he had been a universal favorite. He had good 
looks and a good temper, high spirits and pleasant 
manners. He could learn any thing he pleased ; but 
he did not care about lessons. If the study of the 
classics had been styled a game, and the games 
of cricket and football styled classical studies, he 
would have been a proficient in the classics and a 
wretched cricketer and football player. In him, as in 
many youths, the spirit of contradiction reigned su- 
preme, and he was always ready to do with alacrity 
the reverse of what his masters desired. 

Lord Plowden left Eton with little learning and a 
high reputation for feats performed on the river and 
in the playground : at Oxford he fully maintained his 
reputation, being as popular as an idle undergraduate 
as he had been as a schoolboy. When he left Oxford 
his ignorance of classical learning was rather greater 
than when he left Eton. Yet he was neither a dunce 
nor a simpleton. Whatever it suited him to acquire, 
he readily mastered, and he could easily gather more 
knowledge from a few hours’ reading than more plod- 
ding men could assimilate after a week’s study. 

The misfortune of Lord Plowden was the lack of 
ambition. He was quite satisfied to take life easily. 


24 MISS BA YLBS ROMANCE. 

If he had cared to enter the army his father would 
have been pleased ; if he had cared to enter the 
Church he could have counted upon succeeding 
to a family living and upon the exercise of that family 
interest which insures preferment. But he had no 
taste for the duties of a soldier or a clergyman. Nor 
had a parliamentary career any attraction for him. 
As the second son of a duke, he had great advan- 
tages over unknown men even in these democratic 
days when electors first nominate candidates and then 
vote by ballot. Even a Radical constituency is flat- 
tered when a duke’s son becomes a candidate. Such 
a candidate has twenty chances to one in his favor 
over a man who has nothing to recommend him but 
personal merit, and such a man has a still greater 
chance of becoming a member of a government soon 
after taking his seat in the House of Commons. 

Being devoid of ambition and being disinclined to 
trouble himself about any thing. Lord Plowden settled 
down in London to the listless and uneventful life of 
a bachelor who has enough to live upon, provided he 
is not extravagant ; but who has not enough to marry 
upon for love only. He had comfortable and inex- 
pensive chambers in Jermyn Street. He dined at the 
Junior Carlton Club, when he had not an invitation to 
dine elsewhere, which seldom happened during, the 
season, and he was a great favorite at the Club, being 
regarded as an oracle of the smoking room on all 
questions relating to sport. 

If Lord Plowden had neglected the classics at school 
and college, he did not make amends by hard study 
after leaving the university. He was nearly as, indif- 
ferent to the literature of his own country. Now and 
then he read an English sensational novel. Being 
ignorant of foreign tongues, with the exception of a 
slight smattering of French, he was not tempted to 
read any thing sensational or the reverse in German or 
Italian. The only book to which he gave much atten- 
tion was his betting book. The literature which he 


LORD PLOW DEN'S PROGRESS. 25 

read with interest and attention was confined to The 
Sportsma?i and The Field. For light reading he turned 
to The Referee^ especially to the columns therein 
headed ‘‘ Mustard and Cress.” 

His good looks and pleasant manners made him a 
great favorite with the ladies. His birth gave him 
admission to the best society. He never caused 
ambitious mothers, having daughters to marry, any 
anxiety lest he should propose to one of them. He 
knew that he was no match for the rich daughters and 
he had no intention of mating himself with one of the 
poorer ones. Indeed, he felt that marriage in his own 
social sphere was out of the question, nor did he 
choose to accept a rich wife in another sphere merely 
because he enjoyed a title by courtesy. 

Lord Plowden did not repine about his lot ; yet he 
would have been overjoyed if, in some perfectly hon- 
orable way, he could obtain an income of as many 
thousands as he had hundreds. In that event he 
would have kept a yacht and race-horses, with the 
probable result of getting still deeper into debt as a 
rich man than he had done as a comparatively poor 
one. As it was he contrived to extract a good deal of 
enjoyment out of life. He did not consider himself a 
man to be envied, yet his position was far from being 
despicable. 

Lord Plowden was nearly thirty years old when he 
made Mr. Rupert Wentworth’s acquaintance. He 
looked younger than his years because, though mak- 
ing pleasure his only business, he had not over- 
worked himself. He was six feet in height ; he was 
broadly built and he had the look of being, as he v/as, 
a very strong man. He had light wavy hair and, un- 
like many of his cotemporaries, he wore all the hair 
that nature had given him. His complexion was 
ruddy ; his eyes were a deep blue ; he had a sweet 
smile and a hearty laugh and, though his features 
were not regular, his face was pleasant to look upon, 
hi^ face and manners causing women to regard him 


26 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


with admiration and causing men to regard him as a 
handsome and thoroughly good fellow. 

Mr. Wentworth was several inches shorter than 
Lord Plowden Eton ; but, being spare and slender, 
he looked nearly as tall. His features were finely 
chiseled and his look was stern. His hair was jet-black 
and this made his pale and clean-shaven face seem 
almost unnaturally white. Though delicate in look, 
he was not delicate in fact. He had not only recov- 
ered from his long illness after the war, but he had 
grown a new and much stronger man. Neither heat 
nor cold seemed to affect him. He had forgotten 
what it was to be ailing and, if called upon to show his 
capacity for endurance, he could easily out-walk and 
out-fast men far more robust in appearance than him- 
self. His feet and hands were as small and finely 
shaped as those of any noble whose ancestors were 
Crusaders. In this respect most American gentlemen 
bear all the marks of nobility,while the manners and gen- 
eral bearing of those who belong to the class in which 
Mr. Wentworth moved are as aristocratic as their per- 
sons. Perhaps they are almost too reserved and satur- 
nine. Yet this is merely on the surface. Break the ice 
and they will be found genial companions. 

Like many of his countrymen and those in particu- 
lar who are descended from the early settlers, Mr. Went- 
worth had a feature in common with the Indians who 
once were the lords over Massachusetts. The North 
American Indian has large protuberant ears and Mr. 
Wentworth’s ears were much too prominent. How- 
ever, if the ears of some Americans are rather large 
they are never too long. Though as good a fellow at 
bottom as Lord Plowden, those who met Mr. Went- 
worth for the first time might misjudge him. His 
cold and reserved manner repelled friendly overtures. 
He seemed to regard his fellow-men with contempt 
when, in truth, he was only exercising a caution so 
excessive as to be almost Scottish, and hesitating to 
open his heart and give his confidence till he had s^t- 


LORD PLOWDEN'S PROGRESS. 


27 


isfied himself about the persons with whom he had to 
deal. Beneath his frigid exterior was to be found a 
warm heart and an enthusiastic nature. His friends 
believed in and trusted him beyond measure. It was 
his misfortune to be often misunderstood and to com- 
mand respect rather than the esteem of those who 
judged him from appearances only and who never 
learned how much there was in Rupert Wentworth to 
admire and esteem. 


CHAPTER V. 


THE PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO. 

T AM real pleased to see you, gentlemen. How’s 
your health ? Sit down right there and tell us 
all the news.” 

Such was the greeting which Mrs. Bayle gave to 
Mr. Wentworth and Lord Plowden Eton when they 
entered the restaurant of the Hdtel de Londres^ w'here 
she and her daughter were finishing their breakfast. 
She added : 

“ Have you got the morning papers ? I asked the 
waiter here for them, but, like all those foreigners, he 
does not seem to understand English properly, so he 
told me they do not arrive till the evening. Of course 
that is absurd.” 

Mr. Wentworth replied, “ I am sorry to say, madam, 
that you must wait till the afternoon or evening before 
you can get the morning papers here. They have to 
come from Nice, Marseilles, Lyons and Paris. No 
daily paper is published in the Principality of Mo- 
naco.” 

“ What ! Is there no paper at all ? How do the 
people live without one ? ” 

“ I should say that the majority of the people prefer 
playing at bowls in the open air or at ecarte in a cafe 
to reading any newspaper. However, they have a 
paper which appears once a week. It is the Journal 
de Monaco. There is not much in it and what there 
is can not be called light reading. It contains all the 
government decrees, an account of the prince’s doings 
and an ‘editorial ’ on some topic of public interest such 
^S the sermon preached in the cathedral on Sunday. 


THE PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO. 


29 


The sermon is always pronounced a masterpiece and 
the preacher is always praised for his eloquence.” 

Miss Bayle interposed with the remark, “ If that’s 
so, I guess I shall not trouble the Journal de Monaco. 
It’s often bad enough to listen to sermons without 
reading editorials upon them.” 

“ Well,” said her mother, “ I suppose there is no 
such thing as a telegraph office in this one-horse 
principality.” 

“ In that you are mistaken,” was Mr. Wentworth’s 
answer ; he added, “ you will not find a bank or a 
Protestant church in the principality, but you will find 
both a post and a telegraph office and you may send a 
telegram to Chicago, if you wish.” 

“ I am glad to hear that there is some token of 
civilization. I guess I’ll cable Mr. Bayle right away 
and tell him we have arrived here. But what about 
money, if there’s no bank ? I have a letter of credit 
on the International American Bank and I see in the 
list of correspondents that the firm of Messrs. Smith 
and Co., is the one here.” 

“ I know it has a correspondent, because I get my 
own money through the same bank, but the office of 
the firm you name is in France, and not in Monaco.” 

“ What a strange place in which there is no daily 
paper, no bank and no Protestant church ! Have I 
to go to Nice for money on my letter, or in what part 
of France is the agent of the International Bank to be 
found ?” 

“ You have not far to go. A few minutes’ walk 
behind this hotel will bring you to the banking house 
of Messrs. Smith and Co., and to the Protestant 
church. As soon as you enter the church or the bank 
you have entered France. Both are on the boundary 
line.” 

“ That makes the matter still more ridiculous.” 

“ It would be ridiculous in our country, but you 
must remember, madam, that we are in Europe and 
that Monaco is a part of Europe where American 


30 Miss BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 

ideas have less chance of acceptance than almost any 
other.” 

Turning to her daughter Mrs. Bayle asked, “ Almy, 
didn’t you say this morning my medicine had given 
out ? ” 

“ Yes, mother ; there’s not a drop left in the bottle.” 

Then, addressing Mr. Wentworth again, she pathet- 
ically exclaimed, “ Whatever shall I do, sir ! I might 
have an attack of malaria any day and I suppose there’s 
no drug store here, or if there is they will not be able 
to put up American prescriptions.” 

“ Make your mind easy, madam. There are several 
drug stores. The people here never think of dying 
without the aid of medicine. You can have any 
prescription prepared, and you can even get all our 
quack medicines from Killer to Safe Cure.'" 

“ W^ell, that’s a relief. Tor the moment I felt quite 
scared. I can not exist without my medicine.” 

While Mr. Wentworth conversed with Mrs. Bayle, 
her daughter and Lord Plowden Eton exchanged 
commonplaces, or it would be more correct to say 
that she asked him many questions to which he returned 
commonplace answers. He was struck with her 
beauty ; he was puzzled with her manners and he was 
astounded at her appetite. Several empty dishes 
were before her. She had eaten two boiled eggs, a 
fried sole, a beefsteak, a quantity of potatoes, seven 
slices of bread and butter, and she complained that 
she could not finish her meal without the substantial 
addition of hot buckwheat cakes and molasses. The 
waiter had never heard of either. She told Lord 
Plowden that she was too exacting, perhaps, in looking 
for hot cakes in an uncivilized principality where there 
was no daily paper and where one entered France 
when one went to the bank or to church. 

Miss Bayle produced the effect of a new sensation 
upon Lord Plowden. He had never before seen a 
young lady like her. A more beautiful face he had 
not gazed upon, nor had he ever heard a lady’s voice 


THE PktNCiPALtTY OP MOPfACO. 


which was more out of harmony with her features. 
Though her face was that of an angel, her voice was 
neither low nor sweet ; her beauty dazzled him and 
her accent grated on his ear. He regarded her with 
as much wonder as admiration. She was the first 
young lady who had puzzled and interested him to 
the same extent. And he was quite as much at a loss 
to understand the mother. 

As soon as the ladies had left the room to prepare 
for going out, he said, “ Wentworth, do your country- 
women generally dress and talk like these ladies ? ” 
Mr. Wentworth was ready to side with his country- 
men and countrywomen when criticised by an English- 
man, yet he was also full of Boston prejudices against 
Western products. He was conscious that both Mrs. 
Bayle and her daughter fell very far short of the Boston 
standard ; but he did not like to avow this to his com- 
panion ; consequently he replied : 

“ Many American women differ from them ; these 
people are what we call ‘ shoddy aristocrats ’ and, 
I should say, very recent acquisitions to the ranks.” 

The answer did not enlighten Lord Plowden, who 
said, “ I thought you were all republicans in America, 
how then can any one belong to an aristocracy there ! ” 
“ Of course we are all republicans, and I hope 
that we are good ones ; we are so proud of our form 
of government that we want every nation to adopt it. 

I need not tell you, however, that there may be aris- 
tocrats in a republic, as you must have learned from 
reading about the Venetian, Florentine, and other 
Italian republics.” 

Lord Plowden knew that there were picture galleries 
and fine buildings in Florence, and that Venice was 
built upon piles, but he was as ignorant of Italian 
history as he was of the conditions and gradations of 
society in the United States. He never made a pre-. 
tense of knowing things about which he was ignorant ; 
but he was reluctant to display to his companion the 
extent and degree of his ignorance ; hence he con- 


32 


MISS BA YLMS kOMANCE. 


tented himself by remarking, “I suppose you’re 
right,” and then he proceeded to say : “ Surely the 
wives and daughters of these Italian aristocrats did 
not appear at breakfast covered with diamonds.” 

That would depend upon whether they had any. 
I believe that all women have a passion for diamonds 
and my own observation leads me to conclude that 
the older they are, the fonder do they become of cov- 
ering themselves with diamonds.” 

“ I know very well that many women are fond of 
diamonds and I do not question their taste ; but never 
till I saw Mrs. Bayle and her daughter, h^ve I seen 
any appear at breakfast with diamonds on their 
dresses and in their hair. Can you tell me why Mrs. 
Bayle wears a diamond ring on the fore-finger of her 
right hand ? Is that an American fashion ? ” 

“ Such a sight is as new to me as to you. I never 
saw it in Boston but I have heard that it is a Western 
custom. Our ‘ shoddy aristocracy,’ which is simply 
another phrase for parvenus^ nouveaux riches^ have ways 
of their own. But we must talk of these things 
another time as the ladies are waiting for us outside.” 


CHAPTER VI. 


SHODDY ARISTOCRATS. 

M r. WENTWORTH was quite right in supposing 
Mrs. Bayle to be a shoddy aristocrat. The 
class to which she belonged grew large and conspicu- 
ous after the great civil war. It was originally com- 
posed of persons who made loud professions of patri- 
otism and accumulated large fortunes at the expense 
of their country. It has been recruited since then 
from the ranks of those who make haste to be rich and 
who are nearly as unscrupulous about the means as a 
brigand of Greece or Turkey. 

Shoddy aristocrats occupy an unenviable position 
in their own country. The best society of New York 
and Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other cities 
is a paradise from which they are rigorously excluded. 
To many of them the phrase applied by Burke to the 
Duke of Bedford is perfectly applicable : they are 
emphatically “ poor rich men.” They are poverty- 
stricken in the midst of wealth. The satisfaction of 
material wants does not require much money ; it is 
after these have been satisfied that the time of real 
enjoyment begins. To the half educated man who 
has rapidly become a millionaire the period of enjoy- 
ment never arrives. His sole pleasure consists in 
growing richer, and no greater pleasure nor much 
greater advantage accrues to such a man by his grow- 
ing richer than by his growing fatter. The aim of the 
American shoddy aristocrat is to get social recogni- 
tion ; it is his dream by night and his struggle by day. 
In general, his efforts and aspirations meet with 


34 


M/SS BA YLES ROMANCE, 


greater success in Europe than in his own country. 
In Europe he is credited with many virtues because 
he has very large possessions. 

The Bayle family had become suddenly rich. Mr. 
and Mrs. Bayle naturally desired to make a figure in 
the world. They had tried and failed to enter society 
in America. They were too well known there to suc- 
ceed. They had visited Saratoga and Newport during 
the .season and Mrs. Bayle and her daughter made 
themselves conspicuous for the splendor of their jew- 
elry and the variety of their dresses ; but they failed 
to become intimate with the persons who were ac- 
knowledged to be the leaders of fashion and arbiters 
of taste. The people for whom they cared the least 
were obtrusive in desiring to make their acquaintance. 

They had spent a winter in New York, where they 
occupied the finest suite of rooms in the Windsor 
Hotel and were lavish in their entertainments ; yet, 
while they often gave large parties, they received 
none of the invitations for which they sighed. Some 
Chicago friends advised them to visit Europe and gave 
them glowing accounts of the hospitality and gayety 
which might be enjoyed there. This induced them to 
give up a despairing search after one form of happi- 
ness in America and to recommence it in Europe. 

Mrs. Bayle, who was a little over forty and looked 
ten years older, was an excellent specimen of the 
ordinary American woman who has been educated at 
a common school, who has had a hard struggle for 
existence, who has risen from a humble station in life 
to have every luxury at her command, whose accom- 
plishments are limited to reading, writing, and arith- 
metic, to doing household work and cooking a very 
plain dinner, and whose intellect has had no other cul- 
tivation than that which is the result of an attentive 
perusal of newspapers. 

She was tall and spare in figure ; even in youth her 
face and form could not have been attractive and she 
produced the impression of having been born old, 


SHODD Y ARISTOCRA TS. 


35 


worn, and weary. Most persons meeting Mrs. Bayle 
for the first time were apt to conclude that she had 
been the victim of some great calamity, yet she had 
no other reason for looking wretched than an occa- 
sional headache or the depression following a slight 
attack of malarial fever. Yet her appearance was 
deceptive ; she was neither peevish in speech nor 
repulsive in manner. She was unlike many women in 
holding her tongue when she had nothing to say and 
she possessed the virtue which is rarely found in her 
sex of being an appreciative listener. On one topic, 
however, she was apt to speak with a fluency and per- 
sistency which were well-nigh intolerable ; this was 
the misery of keeping house. On another she was 
equally ready to enlarge ; this was the annoyance 
caused by servants. As has been said previously, the 
leading desire of her heart was to contribute to her 
daughter’s happiness. 

Miss Alma J udith Bayle did not resemble her mother. 
She was much shorter in stature and of a merry nature. 
She was plump yet well-proportioned, was always more 
ready to laugh than to cry, and her high spirits made 
her a welcome addition to any company which required 
to be enlivened. If her mother spoke too little as a 
rule, she was operl to the reproach, by contrast, of 
being a chatterbox. She had no grievances as 
regarded housekeeping or servants. She was not 
afflicted with the craze for entering society which tor- 
mented her parents. On the contrary, her personal 
experience of life had been uniformly pleasant, except- 
ing when she discussed books with Tom Bates and 
found that he did not agree with her. 

She was neither a tomboy nor a blue stocking ; she 
was neither uniformly giddy nor uniformly pedantic. 
Her likes and dLslikes were expressed with perfect can- 
dor. Though her features were regular, though her hair 
was of a fine, dark-brown, though her gray eyes were full 
of glee, and though all these things formed a pleasing 
whole, yet the charm of a lively disposition largely 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


36 

contributed to render her fascinating. She was a 
beauty devoid of artifice and she had a character in 
which there was no guile. Her mother and she had 
one defect in common. They had brought with them 
to Europe an exaggerated notion of the power of 
precious stones to adorn the person. They had an 
equally mistaken notion as to the effect of the bright- 
est colors on the female figure. Nature has made 
American women beautiful ; but it has withheld from 
them, as well as from their English sisters, the inesti- 
mable boon of good taste. The costly dresses which 
Mrs. Bayle and her daughter considered very showy 
and effective were simply hideous. Happily for Miss 
Bayle, she was so beautiful in face and figure and so 
charming in manner as to win admiration in spite of 
her inartistic and unbecoming apparel. 

Miss Bayle had received the best education which 
money could command in Chicago. This consisted 
in a comprehensive smattering of literature, science, 
and art. She had no false pride, and admitted that 
there were some things about which she was wholly 
ignorant, yet she believed that there were few things 
worth knowing of which she had not learned a little. 
She was foolishly proud of her powers as a musician, 
being able, as she thought, to play and sing any thing at 
sight and without a moment’s hesitation, nor did it give 
her any concern that she played out of time and sang 
out of tune. Unfortunately for herself, she was accus- 
tomed to hear her playing commended as brilliant, and 
it was certainly brilliant to the verge of audacity. 
Her singing consisted in a volume of sound which 
made the room ring again and most favorably impressed 
all those who were either very deaf or were no judges 
of music. 

While neither mother nor daughter had marked 
natural gifts or much polish, each was an agreeable 
companion. Both were devoid of affectation ; to use 
their own words, they “ said right out what they 
thought.” Their natural manners and unaffected 


SHODDY ARISTOCRATS. 


37 


remarks were refreshing when compared with the 
company manners and conventional speech which pre- 
vail so widely in that form of society which is called 
and regarded as good, chiefly because it is exclusive. 
Manners may be polished till they become insipid just 
as they may be so rough as to be disgusting. If Mrs. 
Bayle and her daughter had been more subdued and 
refined they would have attracted less notice and, 
possibly, they might have been less liked. 

From the moment they set foot in Europe every 
thing was strange to them ; the world seemed quite 
new. Never before had they been the objects of so 
much attention ; they received as much homage as 
some royal personages. They did not know at first 
that this was due not to themselves, but to their purses. 
Knowing nothing about the actual value of the for- 
eign money which they used, they distributed it in a 
lavish style, giving five' francs when other persons 
would have given one. 

In America the reckless distribution of money for 
services rendered does not produce any lively expres- 
sions of gratitude. The person who is overpaid no 
more thinks of returning thanks than the person who 
is paid the sum actually due. But in most European 
countries an amount of apparent and simulated grati- 
tude which is almost overwhelming may be obtained 
by distributing a few coins. To Mrs. Bayle and her 
daughter, the bows and blessings which they received 
from waiters, porters and cabmen in return for the 
extra payments which they unconsciously made, were 
the more gratifying because their source was entirely 
unsuspected. They thought that the fact of their 
being Americans was the explanation of the matter, 
and they liked Europe all the more when they found 
that Americans were such favorites there. 

Yet they did not feel at home. The scene was 
novel, the people were genial, their path was smooth, 
but they were unhappy. They were anxious to ask 
questions and they could not make themselves under- 


38 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


Stood. They had been told that French would serve 
all over the Continent when English was not spoken. 
Mrs. Bayle trusted to her daughter acting as inter- 
preter. Miss Bayle had the special qualification for 
the post that she had carried off prizes at the high 
school in Chicago for proficiency in the French tongue. 
She had no hesitation in talking with great fluency the 
French which had been praised by her teachers ; but 
she found, first that the remarks she made in that 
tongue were not understood by the persons to whom 
she spoke, and second that she could not understand 
the remarks in French addressed to her. For a time 
she was completely puzzled, but she eventually 
explained the mystery to her own satisfaction, saying, 
“ Mother, I guess there are two kinds of French and 
they have learned me the wrong one.” 

Though the ladies felt themselves unable to con- 
verse as frequently and fully as they desired, they had 
no real trouble in making the journey from Genoa to 
Nice. Their original plan was to stay at Nice till the 
arrival of Mr. Bayle, but they heard so much from 
some American acquaintances of the attractions of 
Monte Carlo that they decided to go thither, an induce- 
ment being that these acquaintances were about to do 
so also. It happened, however, that they changed 
their minds the day that Mrs. Bayle and her daughter 
left Nice, so Mrs. Bayle felt “ Quite lonesome again,” 
to use her own phrase, on reaching Monte Carlo. 
Thus the meeting with Mr. Wentworth and Lord 
Plowden Eton was a real pleasure. 

Mrs. Bayle soon learned that Mr. Wentworth could 
speak French fluently and this increased her liking for 
him. Then the meeting with Lord Plowden was a 
new sensation. He was an object of great interest 
and curiosity to the ladies. They were familiar with 
gentlemen like Mr. Wentworth ; but the son of an 
English duke was a person whom they had never met 
before except in a novel. Lord Plowden was handsome 
and that is a recommendation in the eyes of all 


SHODDY ARISTOCRATS. 


39 


women: he appeared tobe'very good-natured and that 
is a recommendation second only to good looks. 
Both Mrs. Bayle and her daughter were anxious to 
learn more about him. They had formed a notion 
that English peers and their sons constitute a peculiar 
variety of the human animal, and they were as eager 
and curious to see how Lord Plowden would conduct 
himself on closer acquaintance, as any visitor to the 
Zoological Gardens can be about the character and 
movements of a rare wild beast. 


CHAPTER VII. 


SIGHT-SEEING AND GOSSIP. 

M r. WENTWORTH knew his countrywomen too 
well to propose that they should take a walk. 
He was quite aware that the shoddy American regards 
walking as undignified and a sign of poverty. The 
party entered a carriage and drove to the old city of 
Monaco. 

Few cities on the Mediterranean are more pictur- 
esquely situated than Monaco and few are less attractive 
to the untraveled American. As some of the streets 
are too narrow for a carriage to pass, the party had to 
get out and go through them on foot. Mrs. Bayle could 
not understand how people could build a city in such 
a fashion ; she pronounced the streets very gloomy as 
well as malodorous and the city as a whole “ real 
mean.” 

She avowed her preference for such straight and wide 
streets as Washington, Madison, or Randolph streets, 
which occupy much the same place in Chicago that 
the Rue du Milieu does in Monaco. Mr. Wentworth 
admitted that the streets in Monaco were not like 
those of an American city and he said that the contrast 
between them and those of American cities was one 
of their attractions. He urged moreover, that, so far 
as situation went there was no comparison between the 
small city on the Mediterranean and the gigantic 
one on the shore of Lake Michigan, but neither Mrs. 
Bayle nor her daughter would admit that beauty of 
prospect was a compensation for cramped and uncom- 
fortable dwellings. Lord Plowden, who cared nothing 
for scenery and had no antiquarian tastes, agreed v. ilh 


SIGHT-SEEIMG AND GOSSIP. 


41 


the ladies, so Mr. Wentworth found himself in a 
minority of one. 

When he proposed to visit the palace the ladies were 
delighted. They had never entered a palace and they 
entertained very exaggerated notions about the resi- 
dences of royal personages. However, after walking 
through the Palace of the Grimaldis, they expressed 
their disappointment. They had seen many hotels in 
America in which the rooms were as large and as sumptu- 
ously furnished ; indeed, both Mrs. Bayle and her 
daughter expressed their own preference for the Palmer 
House in Chicago over the Prince’s Palace in Monaco. 
Certainly the Palmer House is a much newer building 
and it is decorated in a more gorgeous, though not a 
more artistic style than the palace. 

It was in vain that Mr. Wentworth called Mrs. 
Bayle’s attention to the frescoes in the court-yard 
and told her that they were the work of a great Italian 
artist. Mrs. Bayle saw nothing to admire and she gave 
it as her opinion that these famous frescoes were in want 
of a coat of fresh paint. When assured that the “ Tri- 
umph of Bacchus,” which was one of the subjects 
represented, was a work of high art, she made uncom- 
plimentary remarks about the principal figures and 
said that, if they were coated with whitewash, it would 
be all the better. The truth is that neither Mrs. Bayle 
nor her daughter was capable of appreciating a work 
of art. Besides, they had not been long enough in 
Europe to have acquired the hypocrisy of the tourists 
who praise or blame the artist, not because they really 
like or dislike his works, but because they have learned 
certain phrases in guide-books. As Mrs. Bayle took 
the light of nature for her guide, she often went astray, 
going into raptures over the pictures which no one 
would buy and being very anxious to acquire pictures 
which no one praised. 

The York room was the only one in the palace 
which both ladies admired without reserve. It 
is a triumph of gorgeous ornamentation. The 


42 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


painted ceiling is really an artistic production, but 
there is more ostentation than artistic merit in the 
gilded walls. The attendant who showed them over 
the palace spoke with bated breath when he said, 
“ This is the York room.” Mr. Wentworth knew that 
the Duke of York, a brother of George the Third, had 
died there in 1767 ; but neither his countrywomen nor 
Lord Plowden Eton had any knowledge of this histor- 
ical fact. When told of it they expressed interest, 
thinking perhaps that the room in which the brother 
of a king dies must have undergone a sort of consecra- 
tion. They listened with polite attention while he told 
them the story as recorded by Horace Walpole. They 
went to the verge of hypocrisy in remarking, “ Oh ! 
how interesting ! ” and like children, they wished to 
hear more of the story. In order to please them and 
also to display his knowledge, Mr. Wentworth gave 
them a condensed account of the rock on which Monaco 
stands, being most copious when he spoke about its 
latest history, in which he was more intimately versed 
than in that of its origin as a stronghold. When he 
said that he had no more to narrate, his hearers were 
unfeignedly grateful that his tale was at an end, and 
they almost wished him at the bottom of the blue water 
at the base of the rock when he added, “ I ought not 
to have omitted to mention the ingenious tyrant 
Honors the Fifth, and the stupid tyrant Florestan the 
First, whose foolish conduct was the main cause of the 
revolt of the greater portion of his subjects, which was 
followed by the secession of Roccabrunaand Mentone.” 
While this useful but unappreciated knowledge was 
flowing from the lips of Mr. Wentworth, the carriage 
was conveying the party back to Monte Carlo. 

They got down in the square in front of the Casino. 
Each was ready to question the other, “ What shall we 
do next ? ” Mr. Wentworth anticipated the question by 
saying that the afternoon concert would begin in the 
course of a few minutes. The party went to the con- 
cert room, and heard the performance of an instru- 


SIGHT-SEEING AND GOSSIP. 


43 


mental band which is one of the best in Europe, and, 
possibly, in America also. Between the pieces Lord 
Plowden was subjected to an examination by Miss 
Bayle. She was as much pleased as surprised to find 
that Mr. Wentworth had displayed far more intimate 
acquaintance with the persons and facts of modern 
English history than Lord Plowden. She could not 
understand why he should be both ignorant of his 
country’s history and apparently indifferent about it. 

“Well! Lord Plowden,” she began, “were you 
taught history at school ? ” 

“ I believe I was,” he cautiously replied, adding, 
“ but I was taught so much that I can not now remem- 
ber any thing.” 

“ But what have you read since leaving school ? 
What are your favorite books ? ” 

His favorite book was his betting book, but he was 
in doubt whether he should say so. He had read a 
few story books in his younger days : he had a vivid 
recollection of Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver s Travels j 
he had skimmed the pages of a few sensational novels 
when he had nothing else to occupy him ; but he was 
so much in doubt as to how to answer the question with- 
out exposing himself to ridicule that he said : “ I have 
generally so much to do that I have had no time for 
a systematic course of reading since I left school.” 
And, without pausing for a reply which it might be in- 
convenient to satisfy, he put this question in turn : 

“ Mr. Wentworth has assured me that all American 
ladies are great readers. Perhaps you will tell me 
whether that is true.” 

“ Yes, sir, I guess that’s so : some of us do read a 
mighty heap of books. Mother is an exception. She 
seldom opens a book as she prefers the papers and the 
magazines. I don’t care much for the papers and I 
never read any thing in the magazines but the novels.” 
“ Then what works do you prefer ? ” 

“ It is difficult to say, I like so many. . Don’t you 


44 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


think those of James Payn, William Black and Black- 
more are first-class ? " 

Lord Plowden was again in a difficulty, being one 
of the very few educated Englishmen to whom the 
names of these cotemporaries conveyed no pleasant 
associations. He was not ready to make an avowal 
which, he feared, would lower him in Miss Bayle’s 
eyes, so he said a few words to the effect that he was 
glad to hear that these writers were appreciated in 
America. The remark did not have the expected 
effect, because Miss Bayle at once exclaimed, “ Surely 
you ought to know that all these writers are far better 
understood and appreciated in America than in 
England. When William Black visited Chicago we 
made more fuss about him than if he had been the 
President. If James Payn and Blackmore would visit 
Chicago our citizens would let them know what it is to 
be popular. You English people do not seem to care 
half enough about your best men.” Lord Plowden 
could not understand or reply to this tirade and he 
felt relieved when Miss Bayle went off at a tangent as 
he thought, and said, “Are you fond of yachting ? ” 

He was glad to be able to answer emphatically in the 
affirmative, adding, “ Why do you ask ? ” 

“ Because,” she replied, “ you should read Mr. 
Black’s yachting stories ; they make one in love with 
the sea. If you have not read them you can not tell 
me whether they give a picture of yachting in your 
country. In these stories every body is able to eat, 
drink and sing in all weathers, while in America some 
people always get sick on a yacht when the weather is 
bad.” Lord Plowden was about to tell her that he 
often had sea-sick companions, when the concert 
ended and the party moved away. 

Mrs. Bayle, who had been talking to Mr. Went- 
worth about American topics which interested them 
both, appealed to him as to what they should do next. 
His answer was : 

“You have done your duty so far, and followed the 


SIGHT-SEEING AND GOSSIP. 


45 


round which virtuous new-comers delight to tread. 
Nothing now remains but to complete the programme 
and take a turn in the gaming rooms. I seldom enter 
them, but I shall be glad to accompany you and give 
you good advice which you will probably not take. 
If you do not care to go into the rooms now, you may 
take a walk in the gardens. They are well worth 
seeing.” 

“Are these the gardens where the suicides take 
place ? ” Mrs. Bayle asked. “ When Almy and me 
were at Nice a lady said at the dinner table that a 
corpse is found either in the gardens or at the bottom 
of the suicides’ rock every morning.” 

“ Did the lady who said this ever see one of these 
corpses ? ” 

“ No, sir. She had never visited Monte Carlo. 
She could not bear the notion of suddenly coming 
upon a dead body when taking a walk ; but she had 
read particulars about the suicides in a Nice paper.” 

“ Well, Mrs. Bayle, if the Nice people had their 
own way there would be a general massacre at Monte 
Carlo. They think if the Casino were closed that the 
visitors to Nice would spend more money there, instead 
of paying many visits to this place and losing money 
here. I have been several months here and I have 
not been able to authenticate a single case of suicide.” 

Though Mrs. Bayle was really more anxious to enter 
the gaming rooms than to go to the gardens, she did 
not like to avow this in her daughter’s presence. Mr. 
Wentworth had assumed this and had obtained the 
cards of admission, without which no one can enter 
the Cercle des Etrangers or “ Strangers’ Club ” as the 
Casino is called. He moved toward the rooms and 
the others followed him. 

After walking round the rooms, the ladies expressed 
their surprise at the unexciting character of the spec- 
tacle. They expected to be introduced to a scene of 
boisterous excitement, to behold the winners of money 
mad With joy and the losers frantically tearing their 


46 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


hair, out of grief. Miss Bayle had in her mind the 
graphic picture of players presented by many writers 
in novels and newspapers and accepted as life-like, 
and she expected them to be reproduced before her 
eyes, whereas she saw nothing more startling than 
may be seen in any bank when customers are deposit- 
ing or withdrawing money. The players had a business- 
like look. They did not display those emotions on 
their faces which imaginative writers have discerned 
and recorded. None of the players had a specially 
wicked cast of countenance, and the croupiers were as 
respectable in appearance and as subdued in manner 
as the players. “ Is this all ? ” was the ladies’ 
exclamation ; they added, ‘‘ Surely it is scarcely worth 
while making so much fuss about gaming rooms if the 
show is no more exciting than this ! ” 

Assuming for the occasion the part of mentor, Mr. 
Wentworth moralized in a proper strain, telling his 
countrywomen that the propriety of the performance 
was its greatest danger, that those who came for the 
first time were the more ready to try their luck ” as 
it is called, because to do so seemed perfectly natural. 
Lord Plowden Eton being appealed to by Miss Bayle 
as to whether he did not play, replied that he had 
done so, but that, having lost some money, he did not 
care to renew the experiment. In fact he had not 
even entered the rooms since the evening when he 
had left them without any money in his pocket. He 
was too proud to be under further obligations to Mr. 
Wentworth and, as has already been remarked, he was 
too sensible as well as honorable to risk any of the 
money which he had received as a loan, pending the 
arrival of a remittance from London. When he had 
repaid Mr. Wentworth and had money of his own in 
his pocket, he would have no objection to try and 
regain what he had lost ; as it was, he preferred to be 
a spectator rather than a player. 

When Mrs. Bayle had watched the game at a rou- 
lette table for a few minutes, she felt a desire to risk a 


SIGHT-SEEING AND GOSSIP. 


47 


few five franc pieces. She staked a piece on a sim- 
ple chance and won. Mr. Wentworth told her that she 
might take them both up. She told him that she would 
let them lie till she had won a sum worth carrying 
away. Her stake went on increasing till it was repre- 
sented by several gold pieces. Then a lady who was 
seated at the table stretched out her hand and appro- 
priated the coins. 

Mrs. Bayle said, “ How’s that ; the money’s mine,” 
but no one paid any heed to her remark. She wished 
Mr. Wentworth to explain the reason of this strange 
proceeding, thinking that it might be a rule of the 
game for those seated ajt the table to have a right to 
pocket the winnings of those who were standing. 

Mr. Wentworth said to her, “You are a victim be- 
cause you are a stranger. The woman who has taken 
your money is one of many who are on the watch for 
strangers and who profit by their ignorance. If you 
complain, the woman will assert that the money was 
hers, and you will be looked upon as a person desiring 
to rob others.” 

“ If that’s so,” Mrs. Bayle replied, “ then the game 
is not what Mr. Bayle would call a square one.” 

“ No, madam,” said Mr. Wentworth, “ the game is 
perfectly fair : the trouble is that many of the players 
are rascals. The greatest drawback of these gam- 
ing rooms is that the honest frequenters of them have 
to associate with rogues, and they pay the penalty of 
keeping bad company.” 

“ Well, now,” said Mrs. Bayle, “ I guess I’ve had 
enough of gaming. Come, Almy, let’s go back to the 
hotel.” 

The gentlemen left them at the hotel door, promis- 
ing to return at dinner time. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


LETTERS HOME. 

M rs. BAYLE found a cablegram at the hotel, be- 
ing an answer to the one which she had sent in 
the morning. It ran thus : “.Can not leave for sixty 
days. Expect to make big strike. Go to Paris or 
London when you want change. Write news.” 

This cablegram did not surprise her. She was pre- 
pared for her husband being detained and she was 
pleased to learn that the reason was his expectation of 
adding to his wealth. He had told her before leaving 
America that an opportunity had occurred for doub- 
ling if not trebling his fortune, and all properly consti- 
tuted American wives consider their husbands usefully 
and suitably occupied when they are making money. 

She sat down and wrote a long letter to him, telling 
her daughter that, if she had any letters to write, she 
had better do so at the same time. Much of her let- 
ter has no general interest : the most material pas- 
sages are the following : — “ On reaching Liverpool I 
cabled you as agreed upon ‘ All well,’ and did the same 
from Genoa. This morning I cabled you : — ‘ Address 
is Hotel de Londres, Monte Carlo. Shall we wait here 
for you ? All well.’ Your answer I have just received 
and as you asked me to repeat in writing the cable- 
grams I receive from you I now do so. [Here follow 
the words of the cablegram given at the opening of 
this chapter.] 

“ We did not stay more than a day in Liverpool 
and we were not sorry that the Cunard steamer 
for the Mediterranean sailed at once as it rained 


LETTERS HOME. 


49 


in torrents all the time. We were told that Liver- 
pool is a fine city when it does not rain, but some 
fellow passengers who had been there often said that 
they had never had a fine day there. The steamer to 
Genoa was called the Saragossa^ but it was nothing like 
so fine a one as the Servia in which you saw us off 
from New York, but it was quite comfortable and 
there were only twelve passengers, which was pleas- 
anter than the three hundred saloon passengers in the 
Servia. 

“ I was not so sick as on the Atlantic, and Alma was 
well all the time, as she always is at sea. The weather 
was cold and damp for the first few days, but it be- 
came lovely after we got to Gibraltar, which is a place 
of which the British seem very proud. It was so hot 
there we could not believe that it was only the last of 
March. There were plants and shrubs growing in the 
gardens and covered with leaves and flowers which I 
never saw before, except in a conservatory. In the 
market there were all the fruits and vegetables which 
we get from Florida and California. Some of the 
stall-keepers wore turbans and sat cross-legged like 
the figures I saw when a child in an illustrated edition 
of the Arabian Nights. Many of the people in the 
streets looked as if they had come from a masked ball, 
and the dress of the English soldiers was quite as 
strange, particularly the white helmets which they 
wore to keep off the sun. . . . 

We did not like Genoa as it rained as heavily there 
as at Liverpool. The palaces look rather mean. The 
cemetery, which they call Campo Santo, is full of ele- 
gant marble monuments ; but the guide told us of a 
practice which we thought very horrid. The graves 
are let for a few years, generally three, and at the end 
of the time the remains are disinterred and other 
bodies buried in them ; only very rich people can afford 
to buy graves which are undisturbed. . . . We liked 
Nice better, but feeling lonesome after being a day 


50 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

there, and finding the Americans in the hotel were 
coming here, we concluded to do so too. 

“ On the day we arrived here we met two gentle- 
men who have been very agreeable and have escorted 
us around. One is Mr. Wentworth, an American from 
Boston, who has lived long in Europe and speaks 
French so well that every body understands him, while 
Alma’s French seems^ not understood at all, and the 
people who say they speak English are quite beyond 
me, as I can not make out what they mean. Mr. Went - 
worth has a companion, the son of an English duke, 
his name is Lord Plowden Eton, and he is quite agree- 
able, not being at all proud, and he is as well spoken 
as an American. He does not seem to know much 
and he can not talk French like Mr. Wentworth, but 
then English lords are not bright. 

“ We shall stay a few days here and then go to 
Paris. The Johnsons from Chicago, who crossed in 
the Servia and who went to Paris from Liverpool, told 
me they would be there till May, and I promised to 
meet them at the Grand Hotel. I shall send you a 
cable dispatch when we get to Paris.” 

While Mrs. Bayle was writing the long letter from 
which the foregoing extracts are taken, her daughter 
was writing a shorter one to her Chicago friend, Tom 
Bates. He was one of her many admirers, and he 
was anxious to marry her but, fearing a refusal, he 
had not ventured to propose. She appeared to like 
him, yet she had not manifested such a marked pref- 
erence as to render him confident. of her consenting 
to become his wife. They went to the theater and 
picnics together, danced together at balls and were on 
the best of terms except when they discussed books, 
which they did nearly every time they met. Miss 
Bayle could not understand v/hy any one could be 
blind to the superlative merits of her last favorite 
author, and she had a fresh favorite every week. Tom 
Bates had a great liking for books, though his occu- 
pation was that of clerk in a dry goods store. But his 


LETTERS HOME. 


51 


leisure hours were largely passed in reading and he 
was a member of the Chicago Literary Club, where 
books and their authors were discussed with great 
freedom and sometimes great acuteness. This is but 
one of many societies of the kind in Chicago ; another 
noteworthy one is the Fortnightly, which Miss Bayle 
had often attended as a visitor, and she imbibed there 
many notions about literature, which were in opposi- 
tion to those which Tom Bates entertained. 

Both Tom Bates and Miss Bayle had one topic 
about which to argue and disagree without ceasing. 
This was the respective merit as American authors, of 
Mr. Howells and Mr. Henry James. Miss Bayle was 
one of the ardent admirers of Mr. Henry James ; 
while Mr. Howells was the especial favorite of Tom 
Bates. Neither could recognize the differences be- 
tween them and their distinguishing characteristics. 
The subject upon which they disagreed the most was 
Daisy Miller^ a short story which few of the country- 
men of Mr. Henry James understand and appreciate. 
Miss Bayle had the critical or accidental acumen to 
perceive the artistic merit of the story, and to give the 
writer due credit for having depicted a personage who, 
though not a model young lady, is at once perfectly 
life-like and original. 

Tom Bates intimated to Miss Bayle that Daisy Mil- 
ler was a shameful satire upon American girls, and 
the more he denounced Mr. Henry James for creating 
such a personage, the stronger grew Miss Bayle’s 
admiration for the personage and her creator. He 
maintained that Mr. Howells’ Lady of the Aroostook 
was a much more truthful and admirable heroine, not 
perceiving that both are true to Nature, in the circum- 
stances, and that to denounce the one and praise the 
other is to misunderstand the real merits of both, as 
well as to display blindness to the aim and the artistic 
capacity of each writer. 

The imperfect development of the literary taste of 
Tom Bates can not be shown more clearly than by 


52 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


adding that he read and praised the writings of Ouida, 
which Miss Bayle protested with vehemence that she 
could not endure, and that he saw little to praise in 
those of her favorites among modern English novel- 
ists, such as Mr. James Payn, Mr. William Black, and 
Mr. Blackmore. What fascinated Tom Bates in 
Ouida’s novels were the pictures, which he regarded 
as literally true, of the effete and wicked aristocracy 
of the old world. Being a Westerner by birth, he was 
even disposed to regard with contempt the New En- 
glanders who laid claim to special consideration on the 
ground that their ancestors had come over in the 
flower. He was what his countrymen call a twelve 
hundred dollar clerk. The parents of Miss Bayle had 
no prejudice against him on that score. They knew 
and recognized that, as a man, he was quite as good 
as themselves, yet they had the dislike of rich people 
all over the world to a poor suitor for their daughter’s 
hand. Where the pride of birth is unknown the pride 
of wealth is rampant. Money is always anxious as 
well as ready to mate with money. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Bayle were too sensible to mani- 
fest their dislike to a match between Tom Bates and 
their daughter. Had they openly opposed i;^t, the 
couple would have become man and wife. As it was. 
Miss Bayle seemed in no hurry to respond to the 
advances of her admirer. When he talked of love she 
turned the conversation. She liked him well enough 
as a friend ; but she liked her own way still more, and 
she had a shrewd notion that her fortune was nearly 
as attractive as her person. Thus it was that, when 
she left Chicago, she promised to correspond with Tom 
Bates, and hence the first letter which she penned 
in Europe was addressed to him. She wrote as 
follows : 

“ I am having a splendid time. Mother and I think 
Europe very interesting, and we find it very different 
from what we expected. I enjoyed the voyage across 
the Atlantic, and from Liverpool to Genoa, and I never 


LETTERS HOME. 


53 


felt a bit sick. Mother could not come to meals in 
the saloon and remained on deck all day. A young 
Englishman named Jasper Smith who sat next to me 
at table was very polite and attentive. He was on his 
way home after visiting our country, which he liked 
and praised very much. You often told me that all 
Englishmen hate America and call it that ‘ blarsted 
country ’ ; I asked Mr. Smith if that were so, and he 
said that he had never heard the phrase used, and had 
seen it for the first time in the New York Herald. 

“ When we arrived at Liverpool he was most atten- 
tive to mother and me, and helped in getting our bag- 
gage through the Custom House, and he gave us the 
address of his family in London, and seemed anxious 
that we should call and be presented to them. We 
met an English gentleman and his two daughters on 
board the steamer from Liverpool to Genoa who were 
very nice people ; they came from Devonshire and 
were anxious that we should visit them and see what 
they called the garden of England. I suppose it's 
something like Florida in our country. 

“ All the English people I have met with yet seem 
much pleasanter than I could have supposed, and 
therefore different in most things from the English 
about whom I have read. One thing is strange. I 
always tell them I am an American and they say that 
they know this, though I do not understand why this 
should be so ; while the Italians and French always 
ask whether we are English or Americans. 

“ We have made the acquaintance here of an Ameri- 
can from Boston, and the son of an English duke, who 
have taken us around. The Boston gentleman is 
called Wentworth, and mother likes him exceedingly, 
as he knows the place in which she lived before going 
West and can tell her all about European ways. The 
Englishman is called Lord Plowden Eton. He does 
not seem different from other folks except that he has 
read very few books, saying that he has no time for 
reading, and yet I can not find that he does any thing. 


54 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


I asked him whether his father went about with his 
robes and a coronet as I have seen peers represented 
in pictures ; there must be some mistake about this as 
he says he never saw his father in any other clothes 
than other gentlemen wear. He has promised to get 
mother and me into the House of Lords when in session 
if we are in London then, which will be real nice, as 
then we shall see the peei;s legislating. Mother is 
calling out it is time to dress for dinner, so good-by. 
I should tell you that Europeans do not wear as fine 
clothes as Americans. There is far more style at 
Saratoga than here, and yet they call this a fashionable 
place.” 

While the ladies were occupied in letter-writing, the 
gentlemen were playing billiards in the Cafi de Paris 
as was their custom every afternoon. Lord Plowden 
Eton had not played the French game before visiting 
Monte Carlo, so that, though a good player on an 
English table, he was no match for Mr. Wentworth who 
had practiced the French game in America. The first 
game over. Lord Plowden said : 

“ Come, old fellow, I do not care to play any more 
to-day. Let’s follow the custom of your country which 
seems to be the custom here also and take a drink. I 
wish to talk with you.” 

After they had ordered, two glasses of beer, Mr. 
Wentworth said, “ Well, what have you got to tell me ? ” 

“ Oh ! I have nothing to tell, but I have many 
questions to ask, and I shall treat you as your lovely 
countrywoman. Miss Bayle, has treated me. She has 
questioned me more to-day than any one has ever 
done in all my life. Do all your young ladies think 
that every gentleman they meet is a walking encyclo- 
pedia ? ” 

“ American young ladies differ from each other in 
some things as greatly as English ones, most of them 
think they know so much that they have no questions 
to ask ; others, like Miss Bayle, indulge a natural 
curiosity when any thing is new and strange. You are 


LETTERS HOME. 


55 


an object of interest to a young lady from the West 
who only knows a peer’s son from books. I suppose 
she asked you whether you did not wear robes and 
a coronet when you walked about the streets of 
London ? ” 

“ No. As you told her the first night we met about 
my not being in Parliament, she seemed to suppose 
that I had no right to a special costume; but she fancied 
that my father must always wear a robe and a coronet 
glittering with precious stones. When I told her that 
I never even saw a coronet in my life she asked me 
whether I was really a duke’s son.” 

“ The truth is that your novels and illustrated papers 
are responsible for the prevailing opinions among 
untraveled Americans about English peers and their 
ways. Nonsense of a similar kind is current in Europe 
about Americans, and some visitors to America are 
greatly surprised to find the people there dressed the 
same as those they have left on the other side of the 
Atlantic, and unlike the caricatures of Uncle Sam 
which they have seen in illustrated papers.” 

“ Perhaps both are to blame in this respect. The 
pictures of John Bull in the New York Puck^ which I 
often look at in the Junior Carlton, are not more life- 
like than those of Uncle Sam in Punch, so there are 
caricatures on both sides. However, this is a trifle. 
I soon got rid of my father’s coronet, but Miss Bayle 
was far more exacting in other matters. She wanted 
to know how I spent my time, whether all duke’s sons 
did not go into business like those of the Duke of 
Argyll. She seems to think that people who are not 
in business are not wholly respectable.” 

“ In so thinking Miss Bayle is a true Western girl. 
There is but a small class in America corresponding 
to the large* class in England, France and other Euro- 
pean countries which has nothing to do but enjoy itself, 
and in our Western States such a class is almost non- 
existent. When a man has no regular business in the 


56 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

West he is set down as a gambler and is regarded with 
suspicion.” 

“ Among other things she questioned me minutely 
about the books I read and the authors I liked best, 
and she expressed her surprise when I told her I never 
read any of Black’s novels. She said that as I was 
fond of yachting I ought to read them.” 

“ Personally I prefer the novels of Thackeray and 
George Eliot, yet I could stand an examination by 
Miss Bayle in those of Black, which contain vivid 
pictures of English scenery and of the western islands 
of Scotland. I think you would like the Strange Ad- 
ventures of a Phaeton, the Daughter of Heth, and the 
Princess of Thule y 

“ Perhaps I am treating you much in the same way 
as Miss Bayle ; but, if I do not bore you with ques- 
tions, tell me if your fair countrywoman is a good 
specimemof your American girls. I do not mean as 
to looks, because I have heard that all Americans are 
lovely, yet I should like to know whether they always 
say ‘ guess ’ and say ‘ sir ’ to a gentleman whenever 
they open their lips.” 

“ I may tell you that she is not at all like our Boston 
girls who are far less gushing than those of the West, 
of whom she seems to be a pleasing representative. 
The custom of saying ‘ sir ’ is dying out in New En- 
gland. It is still common out West. You should know 
that it is an old English practice preserved in America.” 

“ I do not complain of the practice ; I only thought 
it strange and rather formal ; but I certainly thought 
it odd that she should have told me I spoke English 
with a very broad accent. I was struck with her 
accent which I thought any thing but English, but I did 
not say so.” 

“ It is as well that you did not. The matter is one 
about which our people are rather sensitive. We have 
a notion that we have preserved the tones and phrases 
which the first settlers brought to America and trans- 
mitted to their descendants. Certainly, it is of less 


LETTERS HOME. 


57 


consequence how people speak so long as they make 
themselves clearly understood, and there is no greater 
difference between the English spoken in America and 
England than there is between the speech of many 
Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotchmen. However, 
these are questions which it is scarcely worth discuss- 
ing. Let’s go and prepare for dinner.” 

As they left the cafe, Lord Plowden saw a familiar 
figure stepping out of a carriage, and he remarked, 
“ There’s the prince. When I heard he was at Cannes, 
I thought he might run over here.” 

The prince, who knew Lord Plowden well, having 
proposed him at the Marlborough Club, stopped and 
shook hands with him. He shook hands with Mr. 
Wentworth also, who had been introduced to him at 
Cowes two years before, and, being blessed with a truly 
royal memory for the names as well as faces of those 
he had seen, he did not hesitate to address him by name 
and say, “Mr. Wentworth, you American gentlemen- 
seem to find your way to this place. I hope that you 
have not lost your money.” 

Mr. Wentworth replied, “ I do not care about playing ; 
indeed I enjoy the place well enough without doing so.” 

Whereupon the prince said emphatically, “ You are 
a wise man. I wish that some of my friends would 
take a leaf out of your book ; ” then he wished them 
good-by, adding, “ I hope to see you again later, as I 
do not return to Cannes till nearly midnight,” 


CHAPTER IX. 


INTRODUCED TO PRINCE OF WALES. 

HEN the gentlemen rejoined the ladies at the 



table d'hote of the Hotel de Londres Mrs. Bayle 


informed them of what her husband had communi- 
cated to her by cable and said that she intended going 
to Paris and then to London where she would await 
his arrival. Mr. Wentworth expressed his regret at 
being unable to accompany her to Paris, as he had 
arranged to remain several weeks longer at Monte 
Carlo, and said that he hoped to meet Mrs. Bayle and 
her daughter again before they returned to America. 
This was spoken out of politeness, because, though 
ready enough to be of service to his countrywomen, 
he was not inclined to put himself to special incon- 
venience on their behalf. 

While prepared to take their part and defend them 
against adverse comment, Mr. Wentworth was not fas- 
cinated by Mrs. Bayle and her daughter ; on the con- 
trary, he retained the Boston prejudice against the 
Western people. In his eyes they fell below the Beacon 
Street standard ; and, what was most exasperating, 
they were not only unconscious of this, but they actu- 
ally fancied that they were superior to any thing which 
Boston had produced. 

No European critic of the Americans has ever said 
or written more bitter things against them than some 
among them think of each other. There is nothing 
singular in this. The people of any country may 
resent external criticism, and indulge in home criti- 
cism to an almost savage extent. A Southerner, a 


INTRODUCED TO PRINCE OF WALES. 59 


Northerner, an Easterner and a Westerner, while proud 
of being an American, thinks it his duty to be very 
candid in commenting upon the failings or peculiari- 
ties of his fellow countrymen inhabiting a different 
part of the country, and all of them are judged with a 
severity positively alarming by the inhabitants of the 
Pacific Slope, who, when they take a journey East, 
condescendingly intimate that they are going to the 
States. 

The same feeling is manifested in the extreme west 
of England. The less educated native of Cornwall 
who leaves Penzance for Exeter, Bristol, or London 
will say that he is going to England. Now, though 
Mr. Wentworth had acquired many cosmopolitan 
ideas, he still entertained the notion that the citizens 
of Chicago were not on a par with those of Boston. 
Indeed, what pleased him best in Mrs. Bayle was her 
having had the good fortune to be a native of New 
England. Though not sorry, then, to have made the 
acquaintance of her daughter and herself, and quite 
ready to help either without inconveniencing himself, 
he was yet greatly relieved to think he would not be 
much longer in their company. 

Lord Plowden Eton had not the same reasons for 
being fastidious, and he had not grown tired of meet- 
ing Mrs. Bayle and her daughter. Before dinner that 
day he had received a letter from London which ren- 
dered him his own master again. It contained a re- 
mittance which enabled him both to repay Mr. Went- 
worth the sum he had borrowed, and also to return 
home. When Mrs. Bayle announced her plans, he 
intimated that he could leave Monte Carlo any day 
and that he would gladly accompany her to Paris. He 
added that he knew Paris well, having often been there 
on a visit to one of his aunts who had married the 
Count de Flaubard and occupied a large house in the 
Faubourg St. Germain. The ladies, being gratified 
with his offer, gladly accepted it and warmly thanked 
him for making it. 


6o 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


Lord Plowden Eton then told them that the prince 
had arrived, whereupon Mrs. Bayle remarked that she 
understood from what the attendant at the palace had 
said in the morning that the prince would not return 
to Monaco for several months. Lord Plowden ex- 
plained that he meant the Prince of Wales who was 
staying at Cannes, and who, as is the custom of so- 
journers at that place, had paid a visit to Monte 
Carlo. 

^‘You don’t say!” was the eager response of the 
ladies ; Miss Bayle adding, “ I should so love to see 
the Prince of Wales.” 

Mr. Wentworth increased their curiosity and excite- 
ment by telling them that he had omitted to point out 
the Duke of Aosta, who entered the Casino as they 
left it. Mrs. Bayle guessed that she would rather see 
the prince than a duke, but when it was explained to 
her that this duke was a royal personage, that he was 
the brother of the King of Italy and had been King 
of Spain, she expressed her disappointment at not 
having seen him. Both she and her daughter inti- 
mated their satisfaction at having visited a place where 
so many distinguished persons were to be met, and 
they professed a desire to remain a short time longer. 
They had said in the afternoon that they did not care 
to revisit the Casino in the evening, but they were now 
anxious to go in the hope of seeing the duke and the 
prince. 

They looked for them in the Concert Room, but 
neither was there. When the concert was over they 
entered the gaming rooms, where they were shown the 
Duke of Aosta standing at the bottom of a roulette 
table and staking gold pieces on the last three num- 
bers. Both of them scrutinized him intently, and then 
they paid him the highest compliment at their com- 
mand by pronouncing him “ Very like an American.” 
Mrs. Bayle was not well informed about the Duke's 
connection with Spain, and she asked Mr. Wentworth 
for particulars, which he gave her, and added that the 


^INTRODUCED TO PRINCE OE WALES, 6 1 

duke had shown great good sense in resigning the 
crown, and that he was far more to be envied as an 
ex-king than as the occupant of a throne. 

“ How so ? ” was Mrs. Bayle’s inquiry, and both her 
daughter and Lord Plowden exhibited by their man- 
ner that they, too, could not understand Mr. Went- 
worth's statement. 

He went onto justify it, saying : “I know, of course, 
that Lord Plowden thinks more of kings than we do, 
and that he must consider the vacancy of a throne to 
be a great calamity. But I think that Henri Rochefort 
put the case very cleverly twenty years ago in his 
paper on ‘ Kings in Exile,' where he said that, if he 
were a king, he would like to be dethroned. Every 
body pities a dethroned king. He is treated with 
marked attention and respect ; he is feasted without 
being under any obligation to give entertainments in 
return ; he has no enemies, because no one hates an 
uncrowned king any more than an unsuccessful man 
of letters, and he enjoys the great advantage over his 
crowned brethren that he has no anxiety as to the 
future and that, happen what may, he can never be 
dethroned." 

“ That may be so, Mr. Wentworth," said Mrs. Bayle, 
“ I never heard tell of the gentleman you speak of, so 
I do not know what Mr. Rochefort knows about kings, 
but I am quite sure he knows nothing about queens, 
and it is they who suffer the most. Why our presi- 
dents are none the worse when their term of office 
expires, they can go back to business as the late Mr. 
Arthur did ; but their wives feel the change badly. 
There's Mrs. Hayes now ; when she was at the White 
House she was able to carry out her temperance notions 
and made all the foreign ministers and other big folks 
who came there drink nothing but coffee, tea, lemonade 
or ice-water, but when she left she knew that all her 
temperance principles would be outraged, and that the 
guests there would have wine to drink. I am sure an 


62 


MISS BA YLE'S BOMANCE. 


ex-queen like the wife of an ex-president must have 
sore trials, and I pity her.” 

They had sat down while Mr. Wentworth and Mrs. 
Bayle were moralizing over fallen royalty and ex- 
presidents and their wives. Miss Bayle did not wish 
the discussion to continue, preferring to look for the 
Prince of Wales. At her suggestion they all rose when 
her mother had ended what was an unusually long 
speech for her to make, and they entered the inner 
room in which were two tables where the game of 
Trente et Quarante was played. There Lord Plowden 
recognized the Prince of Wales among the spectators 
at one of the tables, and he pointed him out to the 
ladies who both exclaimed, “ How like he is to his 
portraits ! ” — no very high-flown compliment. As the 
prince turned away from the table, he saw the party 
and he beckoned to Lord Plowden who accompanied 
him out of the gaming-rooms. On the way the prince 
asked who the ladies were, adding that the younger 
one was very beautiful. Lord Plowden replied that 
they were two Americans from Chicago, whereupon 
he said that he should like them to be introduced to 
him as he admired American ladies very much, espe- 
cially handsome ones. 

The introduction took place outside the Casino and 
Miss Bayle had the great and unexpected pleasure of 
conversing with the Prince of Wales. She knew from 
reading the London Correspondence of the Chicago 
Tribune that several of her countrywomen had been 
admired by him, and that he had been specially struck 
with the charms of at least one, and she had envied 
her fair countrywoman. Now that her own ambition 
was gratified she felt highly elated and the vivacity of 
her talk was a reflex of her delight. 

As a thoroughly practical Western young lady she 
earnestly wished that a reporter had been present in 
order to chronicle the most pleasant “ item ” in her 
life. Her pleasure would have been heightened by the 
thought that many American young ladies were envy- 


INTRODUCED TO PRINCE OF WALES. 63 


ing her. Had she been as well acquainted with En- 
gland as with America, she would have felt assured 
that English young ladies would envy her still more. 
To most American girls the prince is an object of 
curiosity ; to most English girls he is an object of 
worship. 

The conversation with the prince did not last many , 
minutes, and it was scarcely important enough to 
deserve record. He told Miss Bayle how glad he 
should be to revisit Chicago and note the changes 
which had taken place there, as well as in the small 
town of Dwight, which was only five years old when 
he went there to see something of prairie life. 

“ When I saw Chicago,” he said, “ I thought it a 
wonderful city ; there were then 150,000 people in it, 
but now my American friends tell me there are upward 
of half a million.” 

“ That’s so, prince, and it is calculated our city is 
bound to be the biggest on our Continent if not in the 
world.” 

“ Have you seen London yet ? ” he asked. 

“ No, prince ; but mother and I expect to be there 
inside of four weeks.” 

“ I hope you will like England ; most Americans do 
because it is so like their own country in some things 
while differing from it in others. I thought America 
very like the best parts of England and I should like 
to go there again.” 

Miss Bayle was delighted to hear this and warmly 
replied, “ Prince, I’m sure you would have a grand 
reception if you came again. Our people beat all the 
world in the splendor of their receptions and funerals.” 

“ Well, Miss Bayle, I have no desire to be buried in 
America on however grand a scale.” 

“ Oh ! prince,” interrupted Miss Bayle, “ I did not 
mean that. I was only quoting what some English 
papers said about General Grant’s funeral.” Then, 
without pausing to allow the prince to say any thing 
she rapidly changed the subject and, though only 


64 


MISS BA YLBS ROMANCE. 


speaking with the straightforwardness and honesty 
which are among the charms of Western girls, she 
proceeded to pay a compliment such as no courtier 
could have done with greater skill and effect : 

“ But, prince, why doesn’t the queen visit America ? 
I am sure she would have a glorious time. I never 
read a more interesting book than her Journal of Our 
Life in the Highlands^ and mother, who seldom reads a 
book through,, read every word of it, and said she knew 
the queen must be popular because she was just like 
any other real good mother. ” 

Mrs. Bayle interposed with, “ That’s so, prince, 
and I hope you’ll tell the queen that Western ladies 
admire her book. I guess you may tell her too that 
it sold like hot cakes. ” 

The prince’s admiration of Miss Bayle’s beauty 
was heightened by her simple, unconventional and 
evidently sincere speech. He told both ladies that he 
was sorry not to be able to see more of them as he 
was about to return to Cannes and would start for 
England the following day. 

Before the prince left the party he remarked to 
Lord Plowden Eton, “ I have promised your father to 
visit Druid’s Mount and bring my eldest son with me 
after Parliament rises and before I go to Homburg. 
If your friends from America should be there I shall 
be glad to meet them.” 

Neither Mrs. Bayle and her daughter, nor Mr. Went- 
worth paid any heed to the prince’s last words. They 
had no notion of their significance. Lord Plowden 
Eton knew perfectly well what they implied, and he 
knew also that they imposed a rather difficult task 
upon him. He would have to report them to his par- 
ents who would consider it their duty to invite Mrs. 
Bayle, Miss Bayle arid Mr. Wentworth to their coun- 
try seat in the West of England during a part of the 
time that the Prince of Wales was their guest. He 
did not fear any opposition from his father, who had 
special reasons for liking Americans, and those from 


INTRODUCED TO PRINCE OF WALES. 65 

the West in particular ; but he had often heard his 
mother give expression to bitter things about Ameri- 
can women, and he dreaded what she would say when 
he asked her to call upon his Chicago acquaintances. 

Miss Bayle said to her mother after returning to 
the hotel, and when they were preparing to go to bed, 
or, in American phrase, “ to retire “ Mother, aren’t 
we having a lovely time ? Won't Sadie James be mad 
with envy when 1 tell her that I have been presented 
to the Prince of Wales ? ” 

Her mother, who took every thing in a more matter 
of fact way than her daughter, and who, though 
really pleased, did not choose to betray her feelings, 
merely replied, “ Good-night, Almy. I certainly like 
Europe better than I expected, and I am glad you 
get along so nicely. ” 


CHAPTER X. 


ON BOARD THE “ ATALANTA." 

L ord PLOWDEN ETON was now anxious to 
leave Monte Carlo, and Mr. Wentworth was as 
anxious to resume the course of life which he had pur- 
sued before making Lord Plowden’s acquaintance. 
Though liking Lord Plowden very well, he had seen 
enough of him for the time being. As has already 
been said, they had little in common. They knew 
each other well enough to understand this and to 
make allowances. If they had continued together 
they might have found frequent occasions for disa- 
greement. Two men when completely ill-assorted 
can agree to differ till they grow weary of each other, 
and then a trifle suffices to arouse a quarrel. The 
first quarrel is generally the last. They have not the 
inducements of an engaged couple to become friends 
again and, it may be, to become the more closely at- 
tached because they have each recognized that a quar- 
rel is a serious thing. 

Mr. Wentworth felt that Lord Plowden taxed his 
time and hampered his movements. He had not 
grown so intimate with him as to entrust him with his 
secrets or to desire his advice. True friendship be- 
tween persons of the same sex, which is far rarer than 
true love between persons of different sexes, implies 
an amount of trust in the one and of confidence in 
the other which it is difficult to feel and still more dif- 
ficult to exercise. 

■^^hile Mr. Wentworth was pleased that Lord Plow- 
den would soon go away, Lord Plowden was as 
pleased when the hour of his departure was nigh. 


ON BOARD THE ATALANTAT 


67 


His visit to Monte Carlo had been induced by a wish 
to play at the gaming tables in the hope of making 
money. He had ignominiously failed and he felt an- 
noyed to think that he had been the dupe of a delu- 
sion. If he had won money and lost it, he might 
have played again in the expectation of becoming a 
winner. It was hard for him to keep his resolution not 
to play again, and now that he had paid his debts and 
had money in his pocket he felt strongly tempted to 
try his luck for the second time. He saw, or rather 
he thought he saw, the reason why he had been a 
loser. He blamed himself for the result, as all unsuc- 
cessful gamesters do, in perfect good faith and with 
the utmost sincerity. He thought that if he played 
with greater caution and coolness he would win back 
all that he had lost. 

If left to himself. Lord Plowden would have re- 
turned to the tables and have swelled the list of the 
foolish gamesters who lavish more money in the vain 
attempt to retrieve a loss. But, in conversation with 
Miss Bayle, he had announced his resolution to play 
no more and had even intimated to her that he did 
not care about playing at all. She had commended 
him for this and said some strong things in condem- 
nation of gamesters and gaming. Moreover, she had 
told him that it was pleasant to meet with a gentleman 
whose principles were so good. He was determined 
to merit her compliment and confidence. 

Like American girls in general, Miss Bayle had a 
profound aversion for gamesters by profession, and 
she had not been long enough in Monte Carlo to 
learn that men could play there without necessarily 
doing nothing else and that, so far from their making 
a living by gaming, they were certain, in the long run, 
to lose all their money. However, Lord Plowden had 
unconsciously begun to feel disinclined to do any 
thing which might lower him in Miss Bayle’s opinion. 
His admiration for her had increased, yet he had not 
knowingly fallen in love with her. He was still dis- 


68 M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

posed to criticise her mode of speaking, though her 
voice had ceased to grate upon his ear. Her frank 
and fresh manner was at once a surprise and a pleas- 
ure to him. He was more impressed every day with 
the marked difference between her and other young 
ladies of his acquaintance and, on the whole, he 
thought the difference was in favor of Miss Bayle. 
The few weeks that had elapsed since he left London 
had been ' fertile in changes. Certainly, he never 
dreamed before visiting Monte Carlo that he should 
leave his money behind him and return from it as the 
escort of two American ladies. 

When Mr. Wentworth and Lord Plowden met at 
breakfast the following morning and compared notes as 
to their plans, they became more cordial in their feelings 
on finding that their notions were in complete accord. 
They agreed to suggest to the ladies that, if they 
wished to see any thing of Paris in the season they 
should start at once, as the season there was nearing 
its end. The winter season at Monte Carlo had 
closed : the last pigeon had been shot, the last clas- 
sical concert had taken place and the proprietors of 
several hotels were preparing to close their doors till 
November. 

After breakfast they took a turn on the terrace be- 
hind the Casino and they observed a steam yacht 
rounding the point before entering the harbor. 

“ By Jove,” exclaimed Lord Plowden, “ surely that’s 
Tremayne’s AtalantaN' He added after a longer 
scrutiny, “ She flies the burgee of the Royal Albert 
Yacht Club of which I know that T remayne is a member; 
besides I heard that he. intended making a voyage to 
the Mediterranean. Let’s walk down to the Con- 
damine and see.” 

Before reaching the Condamine they got near 
enough to the yacht to make out her name without a 
glass and, sure enough, Lord Plowden was right as to 
her name and nationality ; he proved equally right as 
to her owner, who had just been rowed ashore and met 


ON BOARD THE •• ATALANTA.” 69 

them face to face. Lord Plowden introduced Mr. 
Wentworth, and then asked Mr. Tremayiie about his 
intended movements, who replied, “ I went off to Ge- 
noa after the Nice regatta and cruised along that part 
of the Mediterranean. I anchored last night at Men- 
tone and I start to-night for Nice where I shall send 
the yacht home in charge of the skipper. I thought 
I might stop a few hours here to have a flutter at the 
tables. What are your plans ? ” 

“ Oh ! I shall probably start for Paris to-morrow. 
I want to get home in time for the Derby. By the 
way two American ladies are here ; they might like to 
see the Atalanta j they have never been on board an 
English yacht and one of them seems madly fond of 
yachting stories. I suppose you don’t mind my tak- 
ing them on beard.” 

Certainly not, old fellow. You may take posses- 
sion of the Atalanta for the rest of the day. I told the 
skipper to lay in a store of fresh grub. There is some 
of the champagne left which you like, so your lady 
friends can have luncheon. I have still got my old 
skipper Brown and he will do any thing you wish as 
he knows you well. Perhaps I had better go back 
and send a message to keep steam up in case you should 
care to cruise about for an hour or two.” 

The message was dispatched and the party turned 
and walked to Monte Carlo where Mr. Tremayne en- 
tered the Casino, while the others went to the H6tel 
de Lo?idres. 

They found Mrs. Bayle unusually lively and cheer- 
ful. The family whose acquaintance she made at 
Nice had arrived that morning and had brought with 
them a bundle of Chicago newspapers which, she said, 
“looked home-like.” She had arranged with her 
American acquaintances to accompany them to Men- 
tone, whither they meant to go in a carriage that after- 
noon. When Lord Plowden made his proposal of a 
visit to the Atalanta, Miss Bayle exclaimed, “ 1 should 
so love to see an English yacht.” 


70 


M/SS BA YLE'S IWAIANCE. 


“ Well, Almy,” her mother remarked, “ you can go 
with Lord Plowden and Mr. Wentworth. You know 
I do not hanker after pleasure trips on the sea.” 

It was agreed, then, that Miss Bayles should accom- 
pany Lord Plowden and Mr. Wentworth on board the 
yacht and that her mother should take a drive to Men- 
tone. It was also settled that Mrs. Bayle, her daugh- 
ter and Lord Plowden should start for Paris by the 
Mediterranean Express the following day. Mrs. 
Bayle had changed her mind about going off at once, 
the arrival of her acquaintances from Nice having 
made her anxious to keep them company. When it 
was explained to her, however, that the Mediterranean 
Express ran twice a week only and that, if she did not 
start the following day she would have to wait a few 
days unless she chose to bear the great discomfort of 
an ordinary train on a French railway, she then 
announced her willingness to depart on the mor- 
row. 

Americans have a well-grounded liking for com- 
fortable traveling. In the ordinary carriages on their 
railways, the maximum of discomfort must be borne. 
In drawing-room, sleeping, or restaurant cars discom- 
fort is exchanged for comparative luxury. Mrs. Bayle 
had not much experience in railway carriages in Europe, 
but what she had seen of them filled her with disgust 
for the inadequacy of their accommodation, and the 
carriages on the Italian and French railways certainly 
deserved her emphatic condemnation. 

In England, the French and Italian custom of pack- 
ing passengers by rail as closely as herrings in a bar- 
rel does not exist, and this renders traveling pleasanter 
there and hinders a general demand for a change in 
the carriage itself. She was told that the Mediterra- 
nean Express was an extra fast as well as an extra com- 
fortable train. This decided her. When Americans 
wish to go to a particular place their absorbing desire 
is to reach it in the shortest possible time. 

While Miss Bayle was getting ready to go to the 


ON BOARD THE ‘‘ATALANTAT 7i 

yacht, Lord Plowden told Mr. Wentworth that the 
ways of Western girls puzzled him more''than ever. 

“ If an English mother,” he said, “ had not wished 
to go in the yacht herself she would never have allowed 
her daughter to go under the charge of two compara- 
tively strange gentlemen. Is Mrs. Bayle an exception 
in the matter, or are her ways those of other West- 
ern mothers?” 

“ No American mother, except in two or three of 
the older cities, who was in her right mind would act 
differently,” was the reply. Mr. Wentworth added, 
“The first thing an American mother thinks of is to 
make her children as happy as possible. She gener- 
ally lets them have their own way in all things which 
are not obviously improper. The children, especially 
girls, abuse this indulgence much less than you would 
suppose. They appreciate being trusted and they are 
as ready to make sacrifices for their mother as she is 
for them. Neither Miss Bayle nor her mother sees 
any harm in a yachting expedition with strangers. 
Though young. Miss Bayle is quite capable of taking 
care of herself and she knows it.” 

“ Perhaps it’s all right, but I don’t quite understand 
it. However, if Miss Bayle does not object, I shan't 
complain. But I wish to ask you something else about 
her which concerns me. I hope you will tell me what 
you can.” 

“ Certainly.” 

“ You see the difficulty I am in is that when I 
see my parents and tell them that the prince hopes to 
meet the ladies at Druid’s Mount, I shall be asked 
what the father is. Have you found out ? ” 

“ I don’t really know much more about him than 
you do. I believe that he is one of our Western million- 
aires ; surely that is sufficient recommendation as well 
as description.” 

“ Not altogether. It might do in France, but we 
^re a little more particular in England. Have you 


72 


MJSS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


found out what his business is and how he has made 
his money ? 

“ Mrs. Bayle does not appear very clear on that 
score herself : she led me to. suppose that her hus- 
band is or had been a banker.* 

“ Oh ! a banker is generally a highly respectable 
man and a rich one is quite eligible to be made a 
peer.” 

“ In America any man may call himself a banker. 
You English people seem to think that every man 
should be labeled in due form. I think you may as 
well call Mr. Bayle a banker as any thing else. So 
long as he spends plenty of money nobody will com- 
plain. I am not well versed as to English notions, but 
I know that in my country, much is forgiven to a mil- 
lionaire even if he commit murder.” 

Lord Plowden followed the advice thus given and 
described the husband of Mrs. Bayle and the father of 
Miss Bayle as a wealthy Chicago banker. This de- 
scription sufficed to make all those to whom he spoke 
about them quite disposed to make their acquaintance. 
And thus it was that Mr. Bayle, who was a successful 
speculator and who made money in as illegitimate 
a way as any successful gamester at Monte Carlo, be- 
came known as the very rich American banker. 

Miss Bayle admired the steam yacht Atalanta ; but 
she was less struck with the yacht than she expected to 
be. She had seen many in America which were finer 
specimens of naval architecture. Once she had 
been on board of Mr. Gordon Bennett’s Namouna^ 
one of the finest steam yachts afloat, and it was diffi^ 
cult to please her after seeing such a splendid, luxu- 
rious and seaworthy craft. In truth, whether in 
yachts, passenger steamships, hotels or private houses, 
the Americans can give lessons to all the world in the 
matter of complete and cozy arrangement. English 
comfort, which is a proverb in France, pales before 
American comfort. Indeed, no people surpass the 
people of America in roughing it with greater uncon- 


ON BOARD THE ATALANTA. 


73 


cern when required and providing the luxuries of civil- 
ization, when possible, with greater thoroughness. 
Hence Miss Bayle saw nothing surprising on board 
the Atalanta. 

Yet she enjoyed herself. The day was lovely, The 
sea was blue and as smooth as the sky. It was ar- 
ranged to take a run first in the direction of Mentone 
and then in that of Nice, in order that a complete 
view of the coast might be had. The prospect was 
as new to Lord Plowden and Mr. Wentworth as it 
was to Miss Bayle. A more varied and beautiful one 
can not be seen in any part of the globe. The coast-line 
is as diversified as the irregular contour of the Mari- 
time Alps in the background. In the far distance the 
peaks of the mountains, flecked with snow, seemed, 
under the brilliant sunshine, to be crowned with light. 
The rock upon which the city of Monaco stands was 
a con.spicuous and noteworthy feature in the landscape. 

Its resemblance in outline to Thunder Cape on the 
north-west shore of Lake Superior struck Miss Bayle. 
Once she had made a trip in a steamer from Chicago 
to Duluth and the view of Thunder Cape had made 
an impression never to be effaced from her memory. 
When she made a remark to that effect Lord Plowden 
candidly avowed his entire ignorance of Lake Superior 
except as a name : Mr. Wentworth had heard a good 
deal about it ; but, as he had never traversed that inland 
sea which is to America what the Mediterranean is to 
Southern Europe, he could not sympathize with Miss 
Bayle’s feelings. 

Miss Bayle was not surprised to learn that Mr. 
Wentworth had never sailed on Lake Superior, because 
she had learned that her Eastern countrymen in gen- 
eral are better acquainted with the principal sights in 
Europe than with those of America. Lake Superior 
has not yet inspired a Byron or a Walter Scott. When 
it does there will be less excuse for not caring about 
it. As the chief occupation on board a yacht is not 
the contemplation of scenery but eating and drinking, 


U Miss BA YlE'S ROMANCE. 

all the party felt relieved when the gong sounded fof 
luncheon. 

The owner of a first-class yacht is as careful in 
choosing his cook as his skipper, and the cook engaged 
by Mr. Tremayne did credit to his choice. Hence the 
luncheon was as choice a repast as could be provided 
in any club or restaurant. Like all healthy American 
girls, Miss Bayle was blessed with an excellent appetite, 
and she was always ready to enjoy what in the West is 
styled “ a good square meal.” 

She was pleased to see oysters on the table, not 
having eaten any since she crossed the Atlantic in the 
Servia. Those were American oysters ; these on the 
table were from the Mediterranean. After eating one 
or two she remarked that they were very salt and not 
at all like the American ones. Mr. Wentworth said 
that the Mediterranean oysters were not equal to those 
which he had eaten in London and Paris, and that, 
when he first tried oysters in Europe he did not like 
them, but that he had acquired a taste for them. When 
another dish was placed on the table Miss Bayle said : 
“ Now I call that real nice,” the dish being the simple 
one of sliced tomatoes. She added, “ I have not 
eaten tomatoes since I left America and I did not ex- 
pect to see them so early in the season.” She did not 
even expect to see them in Europe, sharing the impres- 
sion of more experienced travelers than herself that 
the tomato is indigenous to America, and not knowing 
that its introduction into America was long posterior 
to the settlement of the country by Englishmen. She 
was in high spirits and pleased with everything, except 
the oysters, and she expressed great satisfaction to 
find the water-bottle from which she helped herself to 
be filled with iced water. 

“ Isn’t it strange,” she said to Mr. Wentworth, 
“ that the Europeans do not drink * ice ’ water ? They 
do not even seem to understand what it means. The 
first night mother and I spent in Liverpool we rang 
the bell before retiring and asked the waiter for a 


OlSr BOARD THE ATALAMTA. 


75 


pitcher of ‘ ice ’ water and he did not seem to under- 
stand me ; but, after some explanation, he brought us 
some water with lumps of ice in it, and he looked upon 
us when he did so as if we were lunatics. We tried to get 
this at Genoa, Nice and Monte Carlo, but failed to 
make any one understand what we wanted. At Genoa 
the waiter brought us some ice-cream after keeping us 
waiting for half an hour ; he hung around as if he 
expected us to pay him extra for his ingenuity in guess- 
ing what we wanted.” 

“ You were no worse off, Miss Bayle, in such a mat- 
ter than all our people who visit Europe. Thirsty 
people on this side of the Atlantic never think of 
drinking ‘ ice ’ water. Our physicians in Massachu- 
setts say that we suffer from dyspepsia because we 
drink too much of it.” 

Lord Plowden interposed with the remark, “ Pray, 
Miss Bayle, let me offer you a glass of champagne ; 
you will find this capital wine ; it is Moet et Chandon's 
Brut Imperial. ’ ’ 

“ Thank you, sir,” she replied. “ I never drink 
champagne except at a ball where it is a part of the 
programme.” 

Indeed, like American ladies in general, Mrs. Bayle 
and her daughter drank water chiefly, and few things 
seemed stranger to them in Europe than to see every 
body drinking wine at dinner. They had gradually 
succumbed to the practice when they found that, at 
the table Ihdte of the Hotel de Londres^ wine was sup- 
plied without extra charge, and also that a little wine 
rendered the water still more palatable. In Mr. 
Wentworth’s circle, of course wine was as usual as in 
England, and he told Miss Bayle that it was unfortu- 
nate that so few Americans took wine at dinner and so 
many drank whisky before or after it. 

On returning to Monaco after a three hours’ cruise 
and rejoining her mother who had just returned from 
her drive to Mentone, Miss Bayle said : “ Mother, I 


76 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


have had an elegant time. The yacht was nothing 
remarkable, but I am glad I went.” 

“ I’m pleased you enjoyed yourself, Almy,” Mrs. 
Bayle replied. “ We had a beautiful drive, though I do 
not think much of Mentone. I’m sure your father 
would like this place better.” 

“ Well, mother,” she said, “ I told you that I did not 
care to go to Mentone. Don’t you remember my tell- 
ing you that Carlyle called it a ‘ shelf between the 
mountains and the sea,’ and you know Tom Bates 
repeatedly said that Carlyle, though he hated America, 
was the most precise writer of English.” 

“ I can’t agree with Mr. Carlyle in that, Almy ; 
Mentone is far less of a shelf than this place ; but it 
lies flat and the view is not so fine. I am told that 
there are many Americans there, so it can not be such 
a bad place after all.” 

Mrs. Bayle, her daughter and Lord Plowden started 
for Paris the next day. Before their departure, the 
ladies told Mr. Wentworth that they hoped to see him 
again. He could not honestly say that he desired to 
renew acquaintance with them and he had not lived 
long enough in France gracefully to affect what he did 
not feel. Accordingly, he refrained from any hypo- 
critical expressions and he contented himself with say- 
ing that he hoped they would enjoy themselves. 

I.ord Plowden Eton pressed Mr. Wentworth to call 
upon him in London. He promised that he would do 
so and he said this with the intention of keeping his 
promise. Mr. Wentworth rather wished, in fact, to 
see Lord Plowden again ; but he did not care to make 
any binding engagement as to the date of meeting. 
They parted with the understanding that they should 
meet again before the close of the year and they gave 
each other an address to which letters might be for- 
warded. 


CHAPTER XI. 

A croupier’s adventures. 

M r. WENTWORTH resumed the regular round of 
existence at Monte Carlo which had become 
iiabitual to him, but which his acquaintance with Lord 
ilowden Eton had interrupted for several weeks. It 
iiad been no slight sacrifice for him to alter his ways. 
Like other men who have no fixed occupation, he felt 
rather proud of living after a system and he thought 
that, by dividing his day into parts and occupying 
each in a stated manner, he was living a useful and 
well-ordered life. This regularity was of recent date ; 
consequently, he was the more anxious to maintain it. 
Before living by rule, he idled the hours away in a 
heedless fashion ; he was now laboriously idle upon 
system. If he had written a diary on the model of 
Addison’s diary of a citizen of London, he would not 
have impressed any reader of it with his industry or 
self-sacrifice. 

His day was divided into three parts. He was 
always dressed by seven, if it were daylight, when he 
went for a walk. Indeed, he was one of the few resi- 
dents at Monte Carlo who enjoyed morning after 
morning the exquisite effects of light upon the mount- 
ain slopes. When the sun is higher, the air is less 
translucent and the outlines of the mountains are less 
sharply defined. After an hour’s walk and a frugal 
breakfast, he continued a course of reading which 
looked better upon paper than in fact. He had 
resolved upon expanding his unappreciated review 
article on The Froble7n of Existence^ into a work which 
should do credit to philosophical speculation in his 


78 


MISS BAYLMS ROMANCE, 


own country, and which might be accepted in older 
countries as a standard one. 

Mr. Wentworth, having laid down an elaborate plan, 
had read many books in pursuance of it. His aim 
was to be profound yet clear, to combine what was 
most noteworthy in the writings of German philoso- 
phers with what was most admirable in the philoso- 
phers of France, to be as deep as Kant and as limpid as 
Condillac. He had not realized that the work which 
he had planned would long remain a fantasy to charm 
his hours of idleness and might never take form and 
substance. He had exhausted himself for the time 
being in the article which the editor of the North 
American Review declined to print. The more he 
meditated upon his subject and the more he read in 
relation to it, the less ready did he become for grap- 
pling with it. But he continued his reading and his 
meditation in the hopes of one day being able to 
achieve his purpose. The day when he was to 
begin work in earnest and commit his thoughts to paper 
had not arrived. Some new work caught his fancy ; 
some new branch of the subject required elucidation, 
so that, while he supposed himself to be making 
progress, he was really, in military phrase, “ marking 
time.” 

The more Mr. Wentworth read and reflected the 
stronger grew his literary tastes. He kept himself 
fully informed about contemporary authors and their 
works. He regularly read The Athenaum,, The Sat- 
urday RevieWy and The Spectator in order to keep 
abreast of English current literature, the result being 
that he was constantly seduced into buying and read- 
ing some contemporary work which excited his curios- 
ity, instead of steadily plodding in the path which he 
had chalked out for himself. He could stand a better 
examination about the last new history, biography, 
book of travel, or novel, than about the philosophical 
writings which he considered it his duty to master. 
Thus, though he devoted several hours every morning 


A CROUPIER' S AD FEATURES. 79 

to Steady reading, he made but little progress in the 
studies to which he ought to have confined himself. 

He gave up the early part of each day to what he 
conceived to be serious meditation, and he ended the 
day in reading the last book which interested him, the 
intermediate part being spent in taking walks ; in at- 
tending the concerts at the Casino which he thoroughly 
appreciated, as his knowledge of music was nearly as 
great and eclectic as his knowledge of literature ; in 
playing billiards or dominoes at the Caf d de Paris ^ and 
in paying a visit to a family in the city of Monaco. 

The head of the family which he visited was an 
Inspector of the Croupiers at one of the gaming tables 
in the Casino. Mr. Wentworth had made his ac- 
quaintance by accident. He was in the habit of going 
to the city of Monaco in the afternoon and spending 
a short time in the public gardens there which, though 
quite as artificial in reality, appear to be more natural 
than those of Monte Carlo, and are certainly quite as 
beautiful. He liked the change of scene and place. 
He sometimes went in the omnibus which runs every 
hour after midday and he returned on foot. Thus he 
got exercise as well as a change. There are omni- 
buses which convey the croupiers backward and for- 
ward, and one day he entered one of them, instead of 
the public omnibus. The omnibus was moving slowly 
when he got in and he did not perceive his mistake 
till it had started off at full speed. As there was no 
conductor, nor any means of communicating with the 
driver, he could only leave it by opening the door and 
jumping out as it rolled rapidly down the hill which 
leads from Monte Carlo to the Condamine. He was 
about to do so when the croupiers said, “ Pray do not 
move, sir ; we shall be glad of your company.” He 
took off his hat, thanked them, and remained seated. 

On the way, he entered into conversation with his 
neighbor who appeared to be about fifty years old. 
Though Mr. Wentworth spoke French fluently, it was 
obvious from his speech that he was not a Frenchman. 


8o 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


His neighbor took him for an Englishman, an error 
which he at once corrected and received in return the 
compliment that the French must prefer Americans to 
Englishmen. The croupier and he talked on various 
subjects and they continued their talk after the omni- 
bus had reached its destination, and while they walked 
along a street leading to the large square in front of 
the palace. The Frenchman stopped at a door in the 
Nue de Tribunal and, before entering it, he politely 
expressed the hope that he might renew acquaintance 
with the American. 

They often met again and became intimately ac- 
quainted. As Mr. Wentworth told the other some 
particulars about himself, the Frenchman responded 
with particulars about his own career, which might be 
entitled, “ Some passages in the life of a croupier,” 
and which, if given in full, would fill a volume. They 
may be interesting even in the condensed form to 
which the exigency of space now obliges me to limit 
them. 

Hector Pessac, for that was the Frenchman’s name, 
vras born on the right bank of the Gironde, near Bor- 
deaux. His father possessed a small vineyard which 
yielded enough to support himself and a wife, two sons 
and a daughter. Hector was the younger of the boys, 
and, from the age that he could do any thing till he was 
fourteen, he helped his father and brother in the vine- 
yard. But, as his brother was growing up and as he 
and his father could do all the work required, it was 
resolved to send Hector to Bordeaux, there to become 
a clerk to an uncle who was in business as agent for 
buying wine from the small growers and selling it to 
the firms who did a large export trade. 

Hector’s fellow-clerk, Louis Boireau, who was seven 
years his senior, was never weary of descanting upon 
the delights of Paris. When quite young he had been 
taken there by his parents to see the International 
Exhibition of 1855, and the desire of his heart was to 
revisit the capital of his country. The stories which 


A CROUPIER'S ADVENTURES. 8 1 

he told Hector caused the latter to regard a trip to 
Paris as the sublimest of human pleasures. After 
serving his uncle five years and acquiring a practical 
knowledge of accounts and book-keeping, he was one 
day startled with the question whether he would like 
to go to Paris and fill the office of book-keeper there ; 
he replied that nothing would please him better. 
Indeed, he was overjoyed at the prospect and he 
looked forward to making a fortune as well as leading 
a life of pleasure in Paris. 

An old friend of Hector’s uncle was then on a visit 
to Bordeaux, his native place, on account of his health. 
He was secretary to a Paris club called the Cercle des 
Financiers^ but better known, like other Paris clubs, 
by its nickname which was Les Badauds. A vacancy 
had occurred in his office. Seeing Hector at his uncle’s 
table and taking a fancy to the young man, he made 
the suggestion to the uncle which caused the latter to 
speak to Hector on the subject. What his uncle’s 
friend did not explain was that the post was in con- 
nection with the Baccara table and that it would entail 
night duty upon the nephew. If the nature of the 
occupation had been clearly explained to the uncle 
and his nephew, the uncle might have disap- 
proved of it, and the nephew might have been less 
inclined to visit Paris on such an errand. As it was, 
Hector Pessac joyfully set forth ; on reaching Paris, 
he spent the few days allowed him before entering 
upon his duties in seeing the sights and obtaining 
some notion of the charms of the city of his dreams. 
Hector Pessac soon learned his new duties, and he did 
not like them. To sit up all night was a sore trial to 
him. As is the rule in the provinces, he had been 
accustomed to go early to bed and to rise early in the 
morning ; besides, the necessity of being on duty all 
night deprived him of the opportunity for indulging, 
in the pleasures which formed his conception of 
Parisian life. However, the salary he received was 
double what he could have earned in Bordeaux ; so he 


82 A//SS BA VLB’S ROMANCE. 

resolved to live frugally and save money in order that 
he might the sooner follow his own bent. As his man- 
ners were good and as he had the credit of being 
perfectly trustworthy, he became a great favorite with 
the members. 

Monsieur Blanc, the founder and manager of the 
Homburg Casino, was a member of the Cercle des 
Badauds. He passed a part of each winter in Paris 
and when there he regularly frequented the club and 
was one of the habitual players at Baccara. M. Blanc 
was a good judge of persons and he bestowed great 
pains in getting together an honest and trustworthy 
staff. He liked Hector Pessac so much that he made 
him an offer of the post of croupier at a Trente et 
Quarante table in the Casino at Homburg, such a post 
being better paid and regarded as more respectable 
than that of a croupier at a Roulette table. The sal- 
ary was not much higher than that which he got at the 
club, but the work was less laborious and it did not 
entail sitting up all the night. The Baccara table gen- 
erally opened at six in the evening and sometimes re- 
mained open till six in the following morning, whereas 
the Trente et Quarante table at Homburg did not open 
till eleven in the day and it always closed before eleven 
at night. 

M. Pessac felt some scruple about expatriating him- 
self and especially about going to Germany ; but the 
feeling of hatred to Germany, which is now active in 
French bosoms, was then latent. He was told that so 
many French people went to Baden and Homburg dur- 
ing the season as to render both almost French towns 
for the time being. Besides, he knew that many mem- 
bers of the Cercle des Badauds spent the summer 
months in Homburg. What decided him to accept M. 
Blanc’s offer was the approval expressed by his father 
who, regarding the matter entirely from the French 
peasant’s point of view, thought that his son should go 
to Homburg because he would get a larger salary 
there than in Paris. 


A CROUPIER'S ADVENTURES. 


83 


M. Pessac found Homburg a pleasanter place than 
he had expected. He remained there till the gaming 
tables were closed in 1872. M. Blanc was so well 
pleased with his assiduity and punctuality that he 
offered him a still pleasanter post of the same kind at 
Monte Carlo where, instead of sitting at the table as 
croupier, he would sit behind the others and keep an 
eye upon the game ; besides, he would bear the name 
of inspector. He readily accepted M. Blanc’s offer. 
Monte Carlo was much nearer Bordeaux than Hom- 
burg and it was so near to France that, when liv- 
ing in it, he could almost fancy himself in his native 
land. He did not go alone to Monte Carlo ; a wife 
and two children accompanied him. 

M. Pessac had found a wife at Homburg. M. Blanc 
had set the example by marrying Fraulein Henzel, a 
Homburg lady. Indeed, there was much intermarry- 
ing between the French colony and the natives. Many 
Homburg young ladies spoke French nearly as well as 
German, and as the Frenchmen employed at the Ca- 
sino spoke no German, they were the better pleased to 
find that the natives had attained such a stage of civ- 
ilization as to understand and speak French. Of 
course, the more fastidious Frenchmen professed 
themselves greatly shocked to hear their native tongue 
spoken with a German accent and yet they found, in 
practice, that the fairer sex expressed themselves in a 
manner which served well enough for all the purposes 
of love-making and matrimony. 

M. Pessac’s wife was not a native of Homburg : she 
came from Friedrichsdorf, a small village three miles 
distant where the inhabitants spoke French as well as 
German. This village was founded by a small band of 
Huguenots who fled from France to save their lives in 
the reign of Louis the Fourteenth. They had pre- 
served their form of religious worship and their speech, 
while acquiring also the tongue of the country of 
which they had become citizens and in which they 
were free to worship God after their own fashion, 


84 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


Though they spoke very good French, many French- 
men had a difficulty in understanding some of their 
words and phrases, the reason being that these 
descendants of the Huguenots had preserved in their 
daily speech phrases and words which had become 
antiquated in France. However, the natives of Fried- 
richsdorf had a great advantage over the pure Ger- 
mans when competing for situations in the Casino, the 
restaurant and the cafe attached to it. A vacancy 
having occurred, Fraulein Marie Cosse had been ap- 
pointed to preside over the counter in the cafe and she 
obtained this office not only because she was fair to 
the eye, but also because, as a native of Friedrichs- 
dorf she could speak both French and German fluently. 

Fraulein Marie Cosse was admired by all who saw 
her. She was one of those blonde German beauties 
who exercise a marvelous fascination over southern 
Frenchmen. After a short and ardent courtship she 
consented to marry Monsieur Pessac. The only point 
which caused much discussion between them was that 
of religion. 

M. Pessac was a Roman Catholic by birth ; he sel- 
dom went to mass ; but, when he thought of marrying, 
he deemed it prudent if not perfectly becoming to con- 
form to the usage of his Church. He found his intend- 
ed wife very stubborn on the point of religion. For 
his own part he cared little what happened so long as 
there was no open scandal. Indeed, he had found it 
no easy matter to obtain the consent of his parents to 
the marriage ; their desire was that he should choose 
a wife nearer home and they only gave their consent 
after being assured by him that the lady he intended 
to marry was French by descent and was a German 
only through the accident of her ancestors having left 
France and settled in Germany. 

Having obtained his parents’ consent, he did not 
wish to raise further difficulties and he was ready to 
assent to any thing with regard to the religious training 
of unborn children. The difficulties respecting mixed 


A CROUPIER'S ADVENTURES. 




marriages had not then become serious, and M. Pes- 
sac waived all claim to marriage in a Roman Catholic 
Church and became a husband in the Lutheran one at 
Homburg. 

Monsieur and Madame Pessac, as has already been 
intimated, brought with them to Monaco, two children, 
a boy and a girl. The boy had been christened 
Hector after his father and the girl Elsa Marie after 
her grandmother and mother. The children were 
aged eight and seven respectively, when their parents 
took them to a new home on the rock whereon the old 
city of Monaco stands. M. Pessac took up his abode 
at No. 30 Rue du Tribunal., a house which he found 
pleasant and suitable. Yet the change from the dry, 
bracing climate of Homburg to the warmer and very 
different climate of Monaco had a prejudicial effect 
upon Madame Pessac’s constitution. She had always 
been delicate and she suffered greatly from the 
change. The very hot summer months proved injuri- 
ous to her. Five years after settling in Monaco she 
died of a decline. 

M. Pessac was not only deeply grieved to lose a 
wife whom he fondly loved, but he was sadly puzzled 
what to do with the two children. He decided to send 
the boy to a boarding-school in France. He could 
not part with his daughter whom he cherished as the 
apple of his eye. Happily, he persuaded his unmar- 
ried sister to come and keep house for him. Under 
her loving care his daughter grew up to womanhood. 
Her education was entirely a home one. Though the 
cost of having masters to teach her was a heavy tax 
upon his slender purse, he preferred making the pay- 
ment to sending her to school. She learned reading, 
writing, and a few minor accomplishments ; but, 
according to modern ideas. Mademoiselle Elsa’s train- 
ing was very imperfect. What she felt the most was 
the loneliness of her lot. She was attached to her 
aunt who loved her in turn. Yet on certain topics the 
aunt and niece were in direct antagonism. The aunt 


86 MISS BA YLE*S BOMAACE. 

had an utter horror of any thing German, and she 
considered it a benign dispensation of Providence that 
M. Pessac’s wife had not lived longer and that her 
daughter had been removed from all German influ- 
ences. She was also a fervent, if not a bigoted 
Roman Catholic, and she considered it a further dis- 
pensation of Providence that her niece had been placed 
in a principality where no Protestant church was per- 
mitted and where people had to choose between be- 
coming members of the Church of Rome or dispens- 
ing altogether with religious observances. Some per- 
sons may think it a scandal that the Prince of Monaco 
should tolerate public gaming tables and prohibit all 
churches other than his own ; that he should be the 
foe of heretics and a patron of gamesters. The sister 
of M. Pessac thought that nothing did His Serene 
Highness the Prince of Monaco so much credit as his 
religious intolerance. 


CHAPTER XII. 

RUPERT Wentworth’s wooing. 

M r. WENTWORTH had few prejudices and much 
curiosity. He had the thorough American and 
sensible notion of regarding his fellow men as equals 
provided they conducted themselves with propriety. 
He was even more thoroughly an American than 
many of his countrymen, for he was quite as ready to 
do justice to a Chinese immigrant as to a negro or an 
Irishman. 

He did not care to associate with vulgar people of 
any nationality ; but the greatest stickler for the equal 
rights of men can not insist upon the rowdy or the 
drunkard being treated with as great respect as the 
sober, the well-conducted and the law-abiding citizen. 
Some of Mr. Wentworth’s more strait-laced friends pro- 
fessed surprise that he should associate with croupiers 
and other persons employed in the gaming rooms : 
his reply was that he saw no harm whatever in associ- 
ating with them so long as they conducted themselves 
with propriety. He had another reason for cultivating 
their acquaintance. Caring nothing about play him- 
self he watched the play and the players with great 
interest, and thought that he might write an interest- 
ing paper embodying the results of his observation. 

He believed that a true picture of life at Monte 
Carlo had not -been presented to the public and he 
devoted himself to ascertain and set forth the facts. 
He got on speaking terms with the English residents 
there, the most of whom eschewed play as much as he 
did. The father of the English colony was an 
Ihiglishman whose acquaintance Mr. Wentworth made 


88 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


in the cafe where he went every afternoon to play 
dominoes or billiards. This gentleman, Mr. Beauvoir, 
gave him much interesting information about the 
place and its inhabitants and he also told him some 
details of his past life, which had been diversified and 
adventurous. For a short time Mr. Beauvoir had 
served his country in a cavalry regiment and this gave 
him the military air which enabled strangers to see at 
a glance that he was a retired officer. Having an in- 
dependent fortune he left the army and traveled on the 
Continent, staying long enough in France, Spain and 
Italy to acquire the. language of each country. Being 
gifted with a handsome face and figure he found the 
ladies in the society to which he had easy access 
ready to marry him, and eventually he became the 
husband of a charming Frenchwoman. 

A severe pulmonary illness in England had brought 
Mr. Beauvoir to death’s door, and his physician ordered 
him to spend the winter in some more genial climate 
than that of England. After trying many experiments 
he selected Monte Carlo as his place of abode, bought 
land there, built a villa upon it and became a resident. 
When Mr. Wentworth made Mr. Beauvoir’s acquaint- 
ance he was nearly seventy ; yet he did not look more 
than fifty. Though somewhat reserved to strangers, 
his courtesy of manner, which was worthy of his de- 
scent from an old Norman family, soon put a stranger 
at his ease after the ice was broken. Mr. Wentworth 
liked him the better when he found that he never 
played at the gaming tables and seldom entered the 
Casino. Indeed Mr. Beauvoir was wise enough to see 
that life at Monte Carlo would lead direct to the 
workhouse if much of it were spent in gaming. He 
used to warn his friends against yielding to the tempt- 
ation of passing their time in the gaming rooms, los- 
ing their money by day and wasting a great part of 
the night in lamentations over their folly. He was 
a philosopher in practice ; unfortunately, very few 
visitors to Monte Carlo either practice philosophy or 


RUPERT WENTWORTH'S WOOING. S9 


have the good sense and coiwage to follow the advice 
given them by philosophers. 

Mr. Wentworth, like other people, readily accepted 
and gladly acted upon good advice when it coincided 
with his own wishes, so that, when Mr. Beauvoir recom- 
mended him to remain at Monte Carlo on the ground 
that it was as enjoyable in summer as in winter, he 
resolved to pass the summer there. He arrived at 
this conclusion with the less hesitation because he had 
learned that. Mile. Elsa Pessac would not leave it dur- 
ing the summer. 

He had often conversed with M. Pessac, had played 
many game of dominoes with him in the Cafe de la 
Mdditerrande ia the Condamine before M. Pessac 
invited him to his own house. As an American, Mr. 
Wentworth inspired M. Pessac with confidence ; more- 
over, as an American he might be of some service to 
him and that was the strongest possible reason for 
keeping on good terms with him. M. Pessac was 
greatly concerned what to do with his son, who was 
attaining manhood. He knew that his position in the 
Casino would be prejudicial to his son, if he attempted to 
follow any profession in France. Though born in 
Germany and though his parents were domiciled in 
the principality of Monaco, the son was anxious that 
his French nationality should be preserved and this 
could be done provided he made a formal declaration 
of his intention on attaining the age of twenty-one. 
M. Pessac had given his son an education which would 
enable him to pass the examination permitting him to 
become a volunteer in the French army for a year 
and thus discharging the duty of all good Frenchmen 
as regards military service. After having done this, 
his father thought that he might go to the United 
States and make his fortune there. 

It was in the hope that Mr. Wentworth would aid 
him in this design that M. Pessac became very friendly 
with him, and he invited Mr. Wentworth to his house 
and introduced him to his sister and his daughter, A 


90 A//SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

Frenchman is ready enough to meet a foreigner at a 
cafe or restaurant and to be on familiar terms with 
him, but he will not invite him to his own house unless 
he has a special regard for, or hopes to obtain a favor 
from him. This is true of many Americans also. 
They will lavish entertainments at clubs and restau- 
rants upon a stranger, but they are very chary of 
inviting the stranger to join their family circle. An 
Englishman, Scotchman or Irishman, on the other 
hand, does not think he has done his duty to a stranger 
with whom he has become acquainted, till he has made 
him welcome at his own fireside. 

M. Pessac’s house in the Rue du Tribunal was a 
modern one and far more comfortable than the more 
picturesque residences of the old Monaco nobility. It 
was small and very plainly furnished. Unlike the 
windows of the honses lining the dark and narrow 
streets in the heart of the city upon which an antiquary 
looks with admiration, the upper windows of M. 
Pessac’s abode commanded an extensive and beautiful 
view. There was a small garden in front and a ter- 
race about fifty feet long which was arched with trellis- 
work over which a vine had been trained. The leaves 
of the vine afforded a delicious shade during the hot 
summer days ; the grapes which grew in abundance 
were as delicious to the taste. 

M. Pessac regarded this vine with the deepest 
admiration ; he tended it with unremitting care. It 
recalled to him the happy days of his boyhood in his 
father’s vineyard. Owing to his knowledge as to the 
mode of treating vines he was able to render it far more 
productive than any other in Monaco. Like children, 
plants thrive best and are most satisfactory in loving 
and skilled hands. M. Pessac had other plants in his 
small garden which he admired and which were excel- 
lent of their kind. Among them were two dwarf orange 
trees which were very prolific. The small garden of 
an adjoining house contained some very fine pepper 
trees which were a delight to the eye, their fern-Hke 


RUPERT WENTWORTH^ S WOOING. 91 

leaves and delicate clusters of tiny red berries being 
more beautiful than any thing which grew in the garden 
of M. Pessac’s early home. A few yards distant were 
the public gardens of Saint Martin, wherein all the 
plants and shrubs, which one expects to see in Africa, 
throve as luxuriantly as the more homely almond trees 
and myrtles, roses and rosemary, while the geraniums 
formed hedges and were in flower all the year round. 

The first time that Mr. Wentworth dined at this 
house was a Sunday afternoon when M. Pessac en- 
joyed a holiday. After dinner they sat under the vine- 
covered trellis-work, where they drank coffee and 
smoked cigars. Then it was that M. Pessac intima- 
ted his wishes with regard to his son and asked Mr. 
Wentworth for advice. The latter approved of his 
intention of sending his boy to the United States, say- 
ing that if the boy worked hard and was steady he 
might get on far better than if he remained in France, 
adding that no one in America would ask or care 
about his father’s occupation, so long as he did not 
contemplate marrying a young lady and then he might 
be questioned by her parents. He offered to make 
inquiry as to whether a situation might not be found 
for the boy. He added that he must learn English 
before starting, because people in America insisted 
upon those who did business there speaking the lan- 
guage of the country. M. Pessac heartily thanked 
him for his advice and offer. Mr. Wentworth was not 
sorry of the opportunity to cement his intimacy with 
M. Pessac and to put him under an indubitable obli- 
gation. 

He had been cordially welcomed on entering M. 
Pessac’s house and had enjoyed his entertainment 
there far more than he expected. The son was absent 
at school in France. Mile. Rosalie, the sister of M. 
Pessac, and his daughter. Mile. Elsa, seemed very glad 
to make his acquaintance. Having lived long enough 
in France to understand the ways and weaknesses of 
French people, Mr, Wentworth produced a good ini- 


■1 


92 MJSS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

pression by being most courteous and attentive to the 
elderly lady and very formal when addressing the 
younger one. He did not attempt to shake hands 
with either ; had he done so he would have been re- 
garded as unduly familiar ; the American and En- 
glish custom of shaking hands with comparative strang- 
ers not being practiced or understood by provincial 
French men and women. 

Mile. Rosalie Pessac was an elderly spinster of vol- 
uble speech, pleasant manners and plain features. 
Her face had that sallow look which is common in the 
cases of Southern women, which is not repulsive so 
long as their hair is abundant and black, but which 
gives them an unhealthy and forbidding appearance 
when age has whitened their sparse locks. When con- 
versing, her vivacity made one forgetful of her plain 
features. 

A terrible shock had made Mile. Rosalie appear 
prematurely old. When twenty-five years of age she 
was engaged to be married to the second officer in the 
passenger steamer Ville de Bordeaux which traded 
between Bordeaux and Lisbon. Every thing was ar- 
ranged for the wedding and the day was fixed. The 
vessel in which her lover was second officer was timed 
to arrive at Bordeaux the evening before the wedding- 
day, and he had got permission to remain behind on 
the next trip, thus obtaining a fortnight’s holiday. 

She watched and waited for him in vain. The time 
was winter and a storm raged. Owing to a mistake 
which was never explained, the Ville de Bordeaux 
seems to have been out of her course when entering 
the mouth of the Gironde, the result being that she 
struck on the bar and soon became a total wreck. It 
was alleged that great remissness if not actual inhu- 
manity was shown by those who witnessed the catastro- 
phe from the lighthouse and that, if help had been given, 
some of those who strove to swim ashore might have 
been rescued. When the body of Mile. Pessac’s lovei* 
was found, life was scarcely extinct but all the means 


RUPERT WENTWORTH^S WOOING. 


93 


taken for restoring animation proved unavailing. 
Though Mile. Pessac’s hand was asked in marriage 
more than once afterward she declined every offer, 
preferring to cherish the memory of her great loss. 
Partly on this account, perhaps, she became intensely 
religious and intensely bigoted. As she grew older 
she meditated entering a nunnery and she would prob- 
ably have done so had not her brother asked her, after 
the death of his wife, to come to Monaco, keep house 
for him and act as a mother to his daughter. 

Mile. Pessac was glad to be of service to her brother, 
though she never heartily forgave him for marrying a 
German who was also a Protestant. She hated Ger- 
many and the Germans with a perfect hatred. That 
her brother had married a German Protestant and had 
allowed his daughter to be baptized in a Protestant 
Church constituted in her eyes an offense which was 
scarcely distinguishable from a crime. She soon grew 
very fond of her niece who was an engaging child and 
she strove to Gallicize and Romanize her. She strongly 
objected to young Elsa reading German books. On 
these matters, she often had a quarrel with her brother 
who saw no harm in his daughter professing the relig- 
ion and speaking or reading the language of her 
mother, and who was ready to indulge her in every- 
thing and allow her to be happy in her own way, pro- 
vided she did nothing which really deserved blame. 

Mr. Wentworth did not know any of these house- 
hold secrets when he first became M. Pessac’s guest. 
It was by accident that he made a most favorable im- 
pression upon Mile. Pessac or aunt Rosalie, as she was 
commonly called at No. 30 in the Rue du Tribunal. 
She had visited many of the Pyrenean watering-places 
and, having seen no others, she was convinced that 
none in the world could be superior to them. One of 
the pleasantest reminiscences of her life was a summer 
in the Pyrenees, where she first met the young man to 
whom she afterward became engaged. It was natu- 
ral, then, that she should have brought away very 


94 


M/SS BA YLES ROMANCE. 


pleasant impressions of the scenery and the watering- 
places. The conversation turning upon this subject, 
Mr. Wentworth was able to compare notes with aunt 
Rosalie about Bagneres de Bigorre and Luchon, Eaux 
Bonnes, Barege and Cauterets, and, having remarked 
that he preferred some of them to any he had visited 
in Germany, she was delighted to hear this and com- 
mended his good taste. She even overlooked his 
neglect of Lourdes and a hint that such a place had no 
attraction for him. 

When Mr. Wentworth left M. Pessac’s house he was 
no longer regarded as a stranger to be avoided. On 
the contrary, he was pressed in all sincerity to return. 
He was glad enough to comply with the invitation and 
he gradually acquired the habit of calling and spend- 
ing the afternoon or evening there twice or thrice 
weekly. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


PLAY AND PLAYERS ON THE RIVIERA. 

S IX weeks had passed away since Mr. Wentworth 
said good-by to Mrs. Bayle, her daughter, and 
Lord Plowden Eton. He had received a short note 
from Lord Plowden asking him not to forget to visit 
him in London and saying that he had been so for- 
tunate as to win the Derby Sweep at the Junior Carl- 
ton Club and that, as he had lost nothing in betting, 
he had pocketed a sum nearly equal to half a year’s 
regular income. He added that Mrs. Bayle and her 
daughter, after spending a few weeks in Paris, had 
arrived in London and that Mr. Bayle was expected 
from Chicago in the course of a few days. He ended 
by pressing Mr. Wentworth to join him and help to 
entertain his countrywomen. 

Mr. Wentworth was seriously debating what he 
should do. He felt disinclined to carry out his plan 
of staying at Monte Carlo all the summer. The month 
of June was drawing to a close and the heat was 
increasing so rapidly that he began to fear that the 
months of July and August would be as unendurable 
at Monte Carlo as they are in many American cities. 
The plague of musquitoes had begun and this was a 
greater trial than the heat ; he was not much affected 
by the bite of these industrious and sanguinary insects, 
but their music irritated him as greatly as the organ- 
grinders and the street-bands irritated the late Mr. 
Babbage and John Leech. 

He was restless for another reason, having got into 
that mood, common to fractious children, of not know- 


96 MISS BA VLE'S ROMANCE. 

ing what he wanted and dissatisfied with what he had. 
The course of reading which he laid down and fol- 
lowed for a time with commendable industry and per- 
severance had grown distasteful to him ; his once 
favorite studies had lost their novelty and charm. He 
laid them aside and had resort to a change of occu- 
pation by writing an article descriptive of Monte Carlo 
and its Casino. He had not found any account of 
either which was substantially true, and, having col- 
lected much information, which was both fresh and 
authentic, he occupied himself with committing it to 
Vriting. The title which he gave his paper conveyed 
a good notion of what might be found in it, the title 
being Flay and Players on the Riviera. 

As an impartial spectator, Mr. Wentworth was better 
able to deal with such a subject than a writer who 
started with the determination to say either as much 
that was favorable or as much that was the reverse 
about Monte Carlo. When he first arrived there he 
expected to find the place a very different one from 
what it proved to be. He had read harrowing accounts 
of it in a Nice newspape : and these accounts were 
interspersed with heartrending statistics, the statis- 
tics being taken from II SeccolOy an Italian newspaper 
which was asserted to be a perfectly trustworthy 
authority. According to II Seccolo no less than 1821 
persons had committed suicide at Monte Carlo in the 
course of ten years. After careful inquiry on the 
spot, Mr. Wentworth could not find any corroboration 
of these ghastly details. He learned also, on equally 
good authority, that the croupiers were as an aban- 
doned set of scoundrels as the cut-throats of Calabria. 

Having made the acquaintance of several croupiers 
Mr. Wentworth found them highly respectable men, 
who worked very hard to maintain their wives and 
families. He was able to draw comparisons between 
gaming at Monte Carlo and elsewhere, having seen 
something of it in some parts of his native land where 
faro flourishes, though forbidden by law, and whe.re 


PLA V AJVD PLA VERS ON THE RIVIERA. 97 

poker is an “ institution.” He had collected some 
interesting facts about gaming on the Riviera in olden 
days. He described how Biribi^ for example, used to 
be played at San Remo, and he explained the nature 
of that almost forgotten game of chance. 

Though it may seem unfair to anticipate the appear- 
ance of Mr. Wentworth’s paper, yet its interest will 
not be seriously impaired if his account of Biribi be 
given here. A table was used at that game wherein 
there were seventy compartments each of which was 
marked with a figure and a number. Sixty-four balls 
were marked with figures and numbers. The player 
put his stake in one of the compartments of the table 
and then he drew a ball out of a bag. If the ball 
drawn corresponded with the compartment wherein 
the player had placed his money he was paid sixty-four 
times his stake. The chance of winning at such a 
game was very slight. The visitor to Monte Carlo 
who plays Roulette or Trente et Quarante will lose 
his money much more slowly than the player who went 
to San Remo a century ago and risked his money at 
Biribi. 

As Mr. Wentworth’s purpose was simply to state 
facts his paper would not satisfy either the crusaders 
whose self-imposed mission is- to close the Casino, or 
the persons who approve of public gaming tables and 
desire to see them established elsewhere. He left it 
to others to draw their own conclusions, his own 
avowed opinion being that gambling was foolish and 
prejudicial whether it took the form of Roulette and 
Trente et Quarante as at Monte Carlo, of Faro as in 
his own country, of Baccara as in France, or of specu- 
lating on the Stock Exchange and betting at horse- 
races, as is common both in America and Europe. 

Having written the paper on Flay and Players Mr. 
Wentworth was anxious to see it in print. After the 
rejection of his article on The Problem of Existence by 
the editor of the North American Review, he did not 
feel inclined to send another to him. Being a constant 


98 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


reader oiPaul and Chapman's Review^ he thought that 
his paper might be found suitable for its eclectic pages, 
so he sent it to the editor with a note expressing the 
hope that he might accept it. That genial and accom- 
plished gentleman did not keep him long in suspense, 
for his manuscript was returned to him within ten days 
after it had been sent off. A letter from the editor dis- 
pelled the disappointment occasioned by the unwel- 
come sight of the familiar manuscript. 

As communications between editors and contribu- 
tors are rightly treated as confidential and privileged, 
that letter will not be transcribed in full ; but its pur- 
port may be given without any breach of confidence. 

The editor of Paul and Chapman s Review wrote to 
the effect that he had found the article very interesting 
and fresh, that he was glad the writer did not approve 
of gaming or set up any defense of it, and that the 
details which he gave were curious and ought to be 
published. Then followed a compliment not often 
paid to contributors : “ You are,” the editor wrote, ^ 
“ free from a failing common to all contributors to 
reviews. They generally write at too great length, 
seeming to think that space can be no object in their 
cases. You may be said to have gone almost too far 
in the opposite direction, as your paper will not make 
more than five pages of print. Perhaps, then, you will 
add a few more particulars about the inner life of the 
Casino and that of the croupiers, about which you 
appear to have obtained much information that has 
not yet been made public and return the paper to me, 
in order that I may take the first opportunity to pub- 
lish it.” This note gave Mr. Wentworth extreme 
pleasure, and he resolved to make further researches 
before making the additions which had been suggested. 

While Mr. Wentworth kept up his acquaintance with 
Mr. Beauvoir and frequently played at dominoes with 
him, he found another companion who was as interest- 
ing as he, and who was also far more entertaining and 
original than any of the other English-speaking dwell- 


PLAY AND PLAYERS ON THE lU VIERA. 99 

ers at Monte Carlo with whom he had come into con- 
tact. This was Mr. Vincent O’Lorrequer, a gentleman 
of Irish parentage who, though born in London, never 
wearied of lamenting the woes of what he styled his 
down-trodden Irish home. He had wintered at Monte 
Carlo ; but, instead of starting off at the close of the 
season, he had arranged to pass some of the summer 
months there. Though professing to be ail invalid, 
he had the air and bearing of a man in robust health. 

Two years previously Mr. O’Lorrequer had spent a 
winter in Rome and caught the fever which is the 
curse of that city. He found himself better at Monte 
Carlo than elsewhere and he was reluctant tolleave it. 
Being brimful of spirits and fun, abounding in anec- 
dote and having an invention which never flagged, 
Mr. Wentworth greatly enjoyed his society. Mr. 
O’Lorrequer assured Mr. Wentworth that Ireland was 
an earthly paradise and was the only place for a 
rational man to enjoy life, yet he never succeeded in 
making it quite clear why he preferred to spend much 
of his life on the Continent, and why he had visited 
Ireland twice only and staid a week each time. It 
was somewhat puzzling to hear him exalt Ireland to 
the skies in one breath and represent her in the next 
as crushed in the dust. Mr. Wentworth found that, 
like all the jovial Irishmen with whom he had con- 
versed, Mr. Vincent O’Lorrequer was the direct 
descendant of a line of Irish kings, and he inferred 
that Mr. O’Lorrequer’s real grievance was not to sit 
upon a throne with a collar of gold around his neck, 
like his very remote, marvelous and mythical ances- 
tors. When not declaiming about the wrongs of Ire- 
land and asserting the superiority of Irishmen, Mr. 
O’Lorrequer spoke like a shrewd and witty man of the 
world. He had seen many strange people and places. 
He was endowed with the happy gift of making friends 
every where. As a lady-killer, he believed that no man 
living had surpassed him. Among the great men of 
the past, Sir Lucius O’Trigger is the only one with 


100 


MISS BA YLES ROMANCE. 


whom he could be compared. He 4ised modestly to 
recount the conquests which he made over the fair sex 
wherever he went ; but these feats took place in his 
younger and unmarried days. At present he was the 
devoted husband of an excellent wife and the father 
of two comely daughters. 

Though Mr. O’Lorrequer was an adept at cards and 
was not reluctant to bet upon any sporting event, he 
seldom played at the tables in the Casino. He pre- 
ferred looking on and pitying the foolish persons who 
wasted their time and money at play. Not only was 
he conscious of his own superiority over them, but he 
was also confident that he had discovered an infallible 
system for winning large sums ; however, he was as 
wise in refraining from putting it to the test as Don 
Quixote was in abstaining from trying the strength of 
his second helmet. 

One afternoon as Mr. Wentworth and he were seated 
in the Cafe de Paris^ the former thought the oppor- 
tunity a good one for asking a man of the world like 
Mr. O’Lorrequer as to the opinion which prevailed 
about croupiers in a gaming-house. In reply, Mr. 
O’Lorrequer said: “Is it croupiers you mean? Of 
course, I know all about them.” 

“Well, what do people in Europe think of them 
socially ? ” 

“ Why as to that, my dear fellow, I can not say that 
they are looked upon with respect, but that is no fault 
of theirs. I have talked to many and I have been sur- 
prised that they work so hard as they do for so little 
pay.” 

Mr. Wentworth expressed his agreement with this 
view, adding, “ Do you think they are more to be 
blamed by persons who lose their money here than 
clerks in a stockbroker’s office where the clients who 
speculate lose money ? ” 

“ Of course not. You have been long enough here 
to know that the croupiers are only wheels in the 
machine. It is all one to them whether players win 


PLA V AjVD FLA YERS ON THE RIVIERA. loi 

money or lose it. As for a croupier stealing money, 
he will try to do so if dishonest : but so will a bank- 
er’s clerk. But, in the case of the croupiers here, as 
in that of persons in general, you must ascertain the 
part played by the fairer sex before you arrive at a 
decision. If there were no women in the case, you 
would not hear the croupiers called bad men.” - 

“ I must say, Mr. O’Lorrequer, that the presence of 
ladies at the gaming tables was the thing which I 
thought the most objectionable. We should not allow 
such a thing in America. A lady playing at roulette 
seems to me as much out of place as a lady playing at 
being a soldier.” 

“ Right you are,” Mr. O’Lorrequer replied : “ women 
were made to be nurses, sweethearts, wives and moth- 
ers and, when they forget this, they generally go 
wrong. But you have not yet heard my view of the 
women and the croupiers. The latter are constantly 
bothered by women wishing to learn how to win money 
at the gaming tables. They will not believe that a 
croupier has no more control over the game than a 
stock-broker has over the fluctuations on the Stock- 
Exchange. The younger croupiers have not the 
courage to say this, and if any scandal happens, which 
is a very rare occurrence, it is entirely due to the 
female players having a quarrel with the croupiers.” 

Mr. Wentworth agreed with Mr. O’Lorrequer’s 
views about ladies squandering their own money or 
that of other people at play. However, his object in 
introducing the subject was not answered. He really 
desired to learn how a gentleman who seemed so tol- 
erant as Mr. O’Lorrequer about every thing, the Prot- 
estant religion and the English government excepted, 
regarded croupiers. In order to satisfy his curiosity 
he had to put the question point blank. 

“ Would you invite a croupier to your own house ? ” 
That would depend upon the croupier,” Mr. 
O’Lorrequer replied, and he added, “ I may have no 
dislike to a person, yet I might not care to ask him to 


102 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


dine with me and be introduced to my wife and daugh- 
ters. Don’t you remember what Abraham Lincoln 
said in his early days when he was advocating the 
cause of the slave ? ” 

“ I am ashamed to say that my acquaintance with 
Lincoln’s speeches is limited, but I may have heard 
the remark to which you refer and forgotten it.” 

“ Well, he had been taunted with being friendly to 
negroes and he was asked whether he would marry 
one. His answer, if I recollect rightly, was, ‘ Because 
I do not want and would not have a negro woman for 
a slave, it does not follow that I want her for a wife.’ 
Now, as I have already told you, though I think it 
senseless to denounce croupiers, I am not obliged to 
consent to my daughter marrying one.” 

Mr. Wentworth allowed the conversation to drop ; 
he had satisfied himself for the moment. 

A few days afterward, he renewed it with Mr. Beau- 
voir, who had nothing to allege in disparagement of 
the croupiers. Indeed, he considered that they had 
been grossly maligned, that they were honest men 
earning a livelihood by strict attention to their duties. 
He emphatically assured Mr. Wentworth, “ If you 
wish to meet a consummate rascal you must not seek 
for him among the croupiers at Monte Carlo but 
among the couriers who pilot your ignorant. country- 
men about Europe.” Mr. Beauvoir had traveled with 
a courier in his younger days and he learned in later 
life that he must have paid more dearly than he sup- 
posed at the time for this luxury. Since then he had 
carefully collected information respecting the tricks 
resorted to by the less reputable couriers for making 
money at the expense of their employers, and he 
became so prosy on this subject that Mr. Wentworth 
soon alleged an excuse for leaving him. 

The truth is that Mr. Wentworth was greatly per- 
plexed. Every time he saw and conversed with Mile. 
Elsa he became the more charmed with her. She was 
different from any other woman he had met. Never 


/'Z.J y AND PLA YERS ON THE RIVIERA. 103 

before had any one treated him with such a mixture 
of deference and amiability. She seemed to value his 
opinions, yet she often expressed views of her own 
which struck him as more profound and original than 
any of his. They found much to admire in common. 
If he had made her acquaintance in Boston and if she 
had moved among his set, he would not have lost any 
time in asking her to become his wife. As it was, 
however, the question haunted him by day and by 
night, “Can I marry a croupier’s daughter?” 

He thought himself desperately in love, but he was 
mistaken. He was in love with Mile. Elsa Pessac only 
to the extent of desiring to marry her. Had he been 
as deeply in love as he supposed, he would have been 
ready to marry her at all hazards. As it was, he had 
lost his heart, but not his head. 

Mr. Wentworth had an income more than sufficient 
for his own wants and large enough to maintain a 
wife and family in comfort. He could not forget, 
however, that he was a Bostonian and a member of 
an ancient and exclusive Massachusetts family. He 
did not wish to live as an exile and he knew that, if 
he married a woman whom his relations and friends 
in Boston would not respect and receive, he could not 
return with her to his old home. 

For his own part he had satisfied himself that crou- 
piers may be as worthy persons as those whose voca- 
tion is regarded with less dislike and suspicion. He 
considered M. Pessac a most estimable man. He had 
made the acquaintance of other croupiers and found 
that they, too, were good husbands and fathers, and he 
also learned that none of the residents in Monaco were 
better conducted and better liked as a class than the 
persons employed in the Casino. 

Yet Mr. Wentworth could not shut his eyes to the 
fact that others who did not possess his knowledge 
and experience on the subject would be as prejudiced 
as he once was with regard to croupiers. Not being 
able to make up his mind he resolved to ask for help 


104 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


from his uncle Cecil whom he had always regarded as 
a second father. His uncle was then in Paris, which he 
visited for a few months every year. Mr. Wentworth 
sat down and wrote the whole story to his uncle, ending 
his letter with a request for advice. This letter did 
not remain long unanswered. Soon after his uncle re- 
ceived it he sent off a telegram to his nephew saying, 
“ I start for Monte Carlo by the Rapide to-night. 
Hope to see you to-morrow evening.” 


CHAPTER XIV. 


LOVE-MAKING AND CATCHING WHALES. 

M r. WENTWORTH was doubting and debating 
whether he would make Mile. Elsa his wife, be- 
fore he had ascertained whether she had any affection 
for him. In reality they were good friends, but nothing 
more. He often saw her in the gardens of Saint 
Martin, where her aunt and she were in the habit of 
spending an hour or two every afternoon. While the 
aunt knitted, the pair conversed. 

Mile. Elsa had expressed a great desire to learn 
English and Mr. Wentworth was delighted to have so 
charming a pupil. Early in their acquaintance she 
had told him of her aunt’s detestation of every thing 
German and he had profited by the information, taking 
special care to praise every thing French in the aunt's 
presence. By these tactics he had become a great 
favorite with her. One day she paid him the highest 
compliment in her power, and said that he was quite 
worthy to be a Frenchman. He bowed and thanked 
her, without being as much impressed by the compli- 
ment as she may have supposed. 

As Elsa’s aunt had convinced herself that Mr. Went- 
worth’s tastes and sympathies were wholly French, 
she had no objection to their reading and speaking 
German together. This was a greater treat to Mile. 
Elsa than learning English. Her mother had always 
spoken German with her when they were by them- 
selves. She was never happier than when discussing 
her favorite German authors with so intelligent and 
well-read a man as Mr. Wentworth. 


lo6 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 

Mile. Elsa was deeper in love with Mr. Wentworth 
than he was with her. He was the first unmarried 
man with whom she had conversed on terms of inti- 
macy. Most of her father’s acquaintances were 
elderly fathers of families, who seldom associated 
together unless to celebrate a marriage, a christening, 
or a birthday festival. When present on such occa- 
sions she had never met a man who had traveled arid 
read so much as Mr. Wentworth and who showed her 
so great attention. Yet she did not dream of ever 
becoming Mr. Wentworth’s wife. That she would 
marry some day or other was what she expected. 
Her father had often said to her, “ When you are 
married, my little one, you must do this or that,” and 
she knew also that he had saved up the indispensable 
dowry in the event of her marriage. But the idea of 
choosing a husband for herself never entered her 
head. A French girl is not deemed capable of 
rational thought on such a subject. Mile. Elsa was 
trained to consider that the matter of her marriage 
concerned her father and aunt in the first instance, 
that they would tak^ good care about the necessary 
arrangements being made, and that it was her duty to 
obey their wishes. 

One afternoon as they were seated in a shady part 
of Saint Martin’s Gardens, the aunt knitting and Mile. 
Elsa reading to Mr. Wentworth out of Frey tag’s “ Soil 
und Haboi” Mr. O’Lorrequer passed along and 
nodded slightly to Mr. Wentworth. The gentlemen 
met in the Cafe de Paris on the evening of the same 
day when Mr. O’Lorrequer said, “ Who was that very 
pretty girl you were with in the Monaco gardens ? 
Upon my word you are a sly fellow. I now under- 
stand why one never sees you here in the after- 
noon.” 

“ As you know so many people here I thought that 
you might have seen her before. She is the daughter 
of M. Pessac, one of the inspectors at the Trente et 
Quaranfe tables.” 


LOVE-MAKING AND CATCHING WHALES. 107 

“ What ! that little old man with a bald head and a 
white beard who generally sits at the table in the 
second room ! I have heard his name mentioned by 
Mr. Moore, the English detective who is employed to 
keep watch in the rooms during the season, and it 
may please you to hear that Mr. Moore spoke in high 
terms of M. Pessac, whom he knew at Homburg.” 

“ Now, you tell me something new. I did not know 
that detectives were employed by the administra- 
tion.” 

“ Of course they are employed. There is an 
English, a French, and an Italian detective, and that 
is the reason why persons who have obtained cards 
of admission to the gaming rooms are often excluded 
without any reason assigned. The detectives give the 
authorities a hint, and the players who are objects of 
suspicion soon disappear. However, that has nothing 
to do with M. Pessac's daughter. Please introduce 
me to her. I should like to make a sketch of her.” 

Mr. O’Lorrequer was clever with his pencil, and, if 
he could only have persevered, he might have pro- 
duced some good pictures. But he was always begin- 
ning a new one and putting the old one aside. His 
excuse was that he had no time to finish them. 
Having nothing to do but what pleased him, he 
always suffered from want of leisure. Mr. Wentworth 
promised that he would take the first opportunity to 
introduce Mile. Elsa to Mr. O’Lorrequer, but he 
intended to postpone the opportunity to the latest 
possible moment. Though Mr. O’Lorrequer was 
married and was, as he complacently said, a model 
husband, yet Mr. Wentworth did not relish the notion 
of his being brought into close contact with Mile. 
Elsa. 

On returning to the hotel Mr. Wentworth found his 
uncle’s card in his bedroom with these words written 
in pencil on the back : “ Dear Rupert, come and 
dine with me in the restaurant at 8 o’clock.” His 
uncle gave him an excellent dinner and the latest 


i68 


MISS BA YLE*S ROMANCE. 


news about his relations in Boston. After dinner he 
underwent an examination as to his views and wishes, 
the result being that he promised to introduce his 
uncle to M. Pessac and his daughter in order that he 
might form his own opinion of them. 

Mr. Cecil Wentworth, the uncle of Rupert, was 
several years younger than Rupert’s father. It is 
difficult to define his age in general terms. To call 
him middle-aged would be » resented by those who 
knew how many years he had lived in the world ; to 
call him in the prime of life would be a still greater 
mistake. In Mr. Howells’ “ Indian Summer,” the hero, 
Mr. Colville, is depicted as an old man, though he 
was in his forty-first year, and, because of his advanced 
years, he was pronounced far too venerable a man to 
marry Imogene Grahame, who was a little over twenty, 
and only fitted to marry Mrs. Bowen, a widow nearly 
as old as himself. Now Mr. Cecil Wentworth was in 
his fifth-sixth year, yet he would have been greatly 
amazed had any one called him an old man. His life 
had been easy and diversified. When comparatively 
young, from an American point of view, he had 
married a great heiress and he had passed many 
years in sipping those sweets of existence which are 
accessible to the wealthy and the idle. 

Mr. Cecil Wentworth had no family. His wife had 
long been a confirmed invalid. She was contented to 
rest quietly at home when her husband crossed the 
Atlantic once or twice yearly on’ some pressing but 
unexplained business. As a good and patriotic Bos- 
tonian he considered the capital of Massachusetts the 
center of the Universe ; but, as a man of the world 
and a devotee of pleasure, he felt perfectly at home 
in Paris. When in Paris he was a diligent frequenter 
of the theaters, the horse-races and wherever people 
congregated to amuse themselves. He spoke French 
as like a Frenchman as there is any occasion to speak 
it. Being most anxious, hoAveverjTo diffuse a knowl- 
edge of English among the fair sex in Paris, he had 


LOVE-MAKING AND CATCHING WHALES. 109 

generally a fine-looking and gayly dressed young lady 
as a pupil during his visits to Paris. 

Like many other Americans who treat Paris as a 
second home and regard it as an earthly paradise, Mr. 
Cecil Wentworth had an unquenchable desire to dis- 
play the red ribbon of the Legion of Honor in the 
button-hole of his coat. In 1878, the desire of his 
heart was gratified. He had been appointed one of 
the American Commissioners to the International 
Exhibition held that year in Paris and, as he was very 
energetic and spoke French better than his brother 
commissioners, the President of the French Republic 
created him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. 
Though Americans profess to despise foreign orders 
and titles they are always gratified when a foreign 
order or title is bestowed upon a citizen of their 
Republic. Indeed, they sometimes magnify a foreign 
order far beyond its real value. When the late Mr. 
Thaddeus Fairbanks had the Cross of the Imperial 
order of Francis Joseph conferred upon him by the 
Emperor of Austria, in recognition of the superiority 
of his weighing machines, his fellow townsmen there- 
after addressed him as Sir Thaddeus, although the 
order did not justify this mark of respect. 

On Mr. Wentworth introducing his uncle to M. 
Pessac, the latter was greatly impressed at seeing the 
red ribbon in the uncle’s button-hole and he was espe- 
cially courteous to him on that account. He said it 
would be a personal favor if the uncle would accept 
his hospitality and be introduced to his sister and 
daughter. The meeting took place. Mile. Pessac was 
charmed with the uncle because he spoke French so 
well and looked so like a Frenchman ; Mile. Elsa was 
equally charmed to find that the Mr. Wentworth, whom 
she liked the better the oftener she saw him, had an 
uncle who was such a pleasant man. 

When the uncle and nephew were together after the 
visit to M. Pessac, the uncle who was in good spirits 
and appeared to be well pleased, said,“ Well, Rupert, I 


no 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


do not regret having come here. Had I written to 
you from Paris I might have made a mistake. You 
know I always treated you as a son and your consult- 
ing me about your intended marriage has rendered me 
the more disposed to do so.” 

Though nothing had ever formally passed between 
them on the subject, Rupert had always regarded him- 
self as the heir to his uncle’s property, and being 
independent, he was the more eager to inherit an 
addition to his fortune. On the other hand, it was 
equally in the nature of things that his uncle should 
wish to leave his money to a nephew who did not really 
require it. H^d Rupert been poor, his uncle would 
have deemed it fitting that he should work for a living. 
It was, then, a special satisfaction to Rupert to find 
that by marrying Mile. Elsa, he would not forfeit 
either his uncle’s good graces or his wealth. 

“ I am very glad, uncle,” was Rupert’s reply, “ that 
you like the Pessacs.” 

“Yes, my boy, I do like them ; I called early this 
morning upon M. Chartran, the managing director of 
the Casino, whom I knew in Paris and I heard him 
speak in the highest terms of M. Pessac ; the young 
lady seems very nice and, if you must marry a French 
girl, you may as well marry her as any one else. The 
Boston folks will make no objection to the match once 
they hear that I was consulted and approved of it.” 

“ Shall you stay a few days here, uncle, till matters 
are settled ? ” 

“ No, Rupert, I must return at once to Paris. I 
made this hurried journey entirely on your account. 
I am satisfied that you can do the rest yourself. I 
suppose you will not marry before the fall ! I may 
see you during the summer if you should be at Vichy, 
Homburg or Karlsbad. I shall go to one of these 
places. Write to me at the old address when you 
have made your arrangements.” 

On the following day Mr. Rupert Wentworth saw 
his uncle off by the express for Paris and he began 


LOVE-MAKING AND CATCHING WHALES, m 

seriously to reflect what he should do next. When 
meditating in his own room, the cheery voice of Mr. 
Vincent O’Lorrequer calling out as he knocked ener- 
getically at the door, “Are you there, old man?” 
turned the ‘current of his thoughts. Mr. O’Lorrequer 
had two pieces of information to give him. The less 
important may be stated first. 

Since Mr. O’Lorrequer’s stay at Monte Carlo he had 
formed the opinion that bigger fish could be got out 
of the sea than any caught by the native fishermen, 
who had often to be satisfied with catching fish not 
longer than one’s finger. His theory was, that, as the 
sea was very deep a short way from the place where 
the fishermen cast their nets, it might be possible to 
capture a large fish by baiting a line and sinking it in 
the deep water. The villa in which he lived was close 
to the sea-shore and he had thrown a line night after 
night to some distance from the shore. He generally 
found the bait eaten off the hook when he hauled it in 
the following morning ; but when asked, “ Well, 
O’Lorrequer, have you caught a whale yet ? ” he had 
always to reply, “ Is’t a whale you mean. Why, I 
have not even caught a crab.” However, his inge- 
nuity and perseverance had been crowned with success 
and he was gleefully able to announce,“ Well, my boy, 
I have hooked the whale at last.” Mr. Wentworth, 
who had momentarily forgotten all about the fishing 
episode, exclaimed, “ I know there are plenty of pig- 
eons, but I did not know there were any whales here.” 

“ Of course there are none. Don’t you remember I 
told you I had set a line for fish ? ” 

“ Oh ! I was thinking of something else when you 
spoke. I suppose you mean you have caught some- 
thing big.” 

“ That I have at last. It’s a real beauty. I mean 
to set up as a deep-sea fisherman. My servant never 
saw so big a fish before and is not quite sure what it 
is. However it looks all right, so I don’t suppose it 
will poison us. I have come to ask you to come and 


II2 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


dine with my wife and myself and see how my whale 
tastes.” 

Mr. Wentworth said he would be happy to form 
one of the party ; indeed he always enjoyed dining 
with the O’Lorrequers, and he was pleased to have 
the prospect of a lively evening in their company to a 
dull one by himself. 

The second piece of information affected him more 
than the first. It was given just as Mr. O’Lorrequer 
was leaving the room. “ By the way,” he said, “ be- 
fore I go I may tell you that I have just seen old Pes- 
sac and told him that I should like to make a sketch of 
his daughter’s head. He said he would be honored 
if his daughter did not object, and he promised to 
speak to her and let me know. I asked him to din- 
ner to-night, but he declined as he was on special 
duty at the Casino. When the young lady comes to 
me, you must come too and help to entertain her 
aunt who I suppose will accompany her. ” 

Before Mr. Wentworth could reply, Mr. O’Lorre- 
quer had left the room. He had no objection to en- 
tertain Mile. Pessac, but he strongly objected to Mile. 
Elsa’s sitting for her portrait to Mr. O’Lorrequer. He 
resolved to go and see whether he could not persuade 
Mile. Elsa to refuse her consent to have her likeness 
taken at that time. 

He found her seated alone in the covered walk out- 
side the house in the Ruedu Tidbunal. . She was read- 
ing a volume of Schiller’s plays which he had lent 
her. Her aunt’s knitting materials were on a chair. 
She said that her aunt would be back in a few min- 
utes as she had only gone to give some orders to the 
cook, and went on to say that she must return the 
books he had lent her as she was going away soon. 

“ Going away ! ” he repeated, with unconcealed 
surprise. 

‘‘Yes,” she replied, “we start next week. Papa 
told us last night that he had been able to settle about 
if' 


LOVE-MAKING AND CATCHING WHALES. 113 

“ I thought that you meant to remain here all the 
summer ! ” 

“ We did think so ; but papa has got an extra fort- 
night’s leave, so he will have a whole month’s holiday, 
and he wants to visit Homburg which he has not done 
for ten years,” adding, with an earnestness which went 
to Mr. Wentworth’s heart, I am so glad to go.” He 
tried hard to put questions with perfect self-command 
and he succeeded in not betraying feelings which 
were stronger than he had imagined. However, Mile. 
Elsa was so much excited at the prospect of the pro- 
jected journey that she did not remark the change in 
his voice and manner. Besides, her aunt arrived and 
greeted him with the remark, “ I suppose Elsa is 
telling you the news. She can talk of nothing but 
her journey.” 

. Mr. Wentworth told the aunt that beyond the fact 
of the visit to Homburg he had not heard any par- 
ticulars ; thereupon she went on to give him full de- 
tails : “You may suppose that I do not like my 
brother going to Germany and taking Elsa with him, 
but I can not well object because my brother’s father- 
in-law is very anxious to see his granddaughter, and 
his wish ought to be gratified all the more as he says 
he is getting old and infirm. He has several times 
written about this, and as my brother suddenly found 
that he could get a longer holiday than uspal this 
year, he decided upon starting next week. Of course 
I can not accompany them, having vowed never to 
set foot in Germany. I shall go to Bordeaux, how- 
ever, to see my relations there.” 

Mr. Wentworth expressed the hope that they would 
all enjoy themselves, and added that, as they would 
be very busy preparing for their journey, he might be 
in the way if he visited them, whereupon both ladies 
said that they hoped he would come as often as he 
could. He did not care to prolong the conversation, 
so he took his departure and, at the appointed hour, 
he went to dine with Mr. and Mrs. O’Lorrequer. 


CHAPTER XV. 


RUPERT WENTWORTH PROPOSES. 

N ot for the first time in his life, Mr. Wentworth 
was utterly puzzled how to act. Like all vacil- 
lating men he was accustomed to talk about making 
up his mind at once and he was disposed to plume 
himself upon the imaginary promptitude with which 
he carried out as well as arrived at his decisions. 
Had he been a much younger or a very much older 
man he would have had no hesitation about marrying 
Mile. Elsa. She pleased him more than any young 
lady whose acquaintance he had made in Europe. 
The fact of her being a croupier’s daughter had 
ceased to be an obstacle since his uncle had approved 
of his project. But a new doubt had taken posses- 
sion of his mind. He was afraid lest, being on the 
verge of forty, he was not too old to become the hus- 
band of a damsel half his own age. 

A man deeply in love does not pass his days and 
nights in meditating upon the date of his birth. He 
may be too old or too young to marry ; but his friends 
are often better judges of this than himself, and he 
never heeds their opinions or remonstrances. Mr. 
Wentworth might have been too young at twenty or 
too old at forty to marry Mile. Elsa ; but he would 
have been the last person to discover and acknowledge 
this had he been an ardent lover. As it was, his case 
was not that of December mating with May. He had 
no reason to fear the ridicule of his Boston friends or 
to be commiserated by them for having been rash and 
foolish. 


RUPERT WENTWORTH PROPOSES. 115 

When his cousin, Julia Barton, the object of his 
youthful and unavowed love, became the wife of New- 
ton Jones she was about the same age as Elsa, while 
her husband’s age was then what his was now. His 
own observation led him to conclude that his country- 
men who married at forty made good husbands to 
brides not much over twenty, and that, not unfre- 
quently, they became the happy fathers of many boys 
and girls. 

Perhaps notions of this kind might never have given 
Mr. Wentworth any concern if he had not been in a 
somewhat morbid frame of mind. The truth is that 
marriage did not enter into his scheme of life ; he had 
lived as a bachelor long enough to get into a groove 
out of which he was reluctant to issue. Once or twice 
he bitterly regretted having met Mile. Elsa, and, after 
indulging in this feeling and demonstrating to his own 
satisfaction that he was a fool, he became angry with 
himself for his hesitation and grew more anxious to 
marry her than ever. He smiled grimly as he pictured 
to himself how Mr. Howells would have provided for 
him if the ordering of his fate had been in such ruth- 
less hands. In such a case he would have been united 
in holy matrimony with the elderly aunt. Mile. Rosalie 
Pessac, who certainly was effusive in her expressions 
of liking for him. He was quite certain that, if the 
niece were too young to become his bride, the aunt 
was far too old. As his custom was at this period of 
his life, he resolved to postpone a decision to another 
day, and he prepared to enjoy dinner and the hearty 
welcome which he was sure to find in the villa of 
which the O’Lorrequers were tenants. 

“ Delighted to see you, old fellow,” was Mr. O’Lor- 
requer’s greeting. “ It is very good of you to come 
at such short notice,” was said with as great cordiality 
by his charming wife. Mr. Wentworth responded 
effusively, but he had never felt so much tempted to 
resent being addressed as “ old fellow,” even in joke. 
Before dinner was served, Mr. O’Lorrequer insisted 


Ii6 MISS BAYLE'S KOMANCE. 

upon showing him where the]“ whale ” had been caught, 
describing with great animation his trouble in landing 
it. He displayed the line and the hooks, being evidently 
anxious to prove that his perseverance had actually 
been rewarded, and to prevent doubts being raised as 
to whether the fish had not been captured with a silver 
hook in the market-place. 

Mr. Wentworth was not surprised, when the dish 
was uncovered, to find that the fish was a rather large 
loup^ a Mediterranean fish somewhat resembling a 
whiting in appearance and very slightly in taste. Mr. 
O’Lorrequer would not admit that it was a loiip of the 
ordinary kind, such as had been seen before. 

‘‘ Sure,” he said, “this is from the deep part of the 
sea, the taste is far finer, and the fish is not one of 
those consumptive specimens which are caught in 
warm, shallow water.” His wife, in true wifely fash- 
ion, not only dissembled her doubts but she pleased 
her husband by remarking that the fish was exquisite 
in taste, and by asking for a second helping of it. 

When dinner was over and the gentlemen were 
seated on the balcony enjoying the prospect, cigars 
and coffee, Mr. O’Lorrequer announced that a letter 
had arrived which rnight compel him to shorten his 
stay. It referred to the probable dissolution of Par- 
liament, and contained the offer of a seat in the new 
Hou.se. As the writer was Mr. Parnell he could make 
such an offer. Mr. Wentworth congratulated him, 
whereupon Mr. O’Lorrequer replied, “ Do not con- 
gratulate me until you have heard the whole story. I 
am offered a safe seat, but I am also asked to con- 
tribute largely to the cause : now, faith, though I 
don’t object to enter Parliament myself, I am not at 
all inclined to spend money in helping others to go 
too and to keep them when there.” 

“ But I thought,” said Mr. Wentworth, “ that your 
great ambition was to enter the House of Commons 
and redress the wrongs of your down-trodden and dis- 
consolate country ? ” 


RUPERT WENTWORTH PROPOSES. 1 17 

“ Of course I should like nothing better. I don’t 
care to pay any thing for doing so, however ; besides, 
it is not convenient to do so at present.” 

“ So you mean to decline ? ” 

“ By no means. I shall write a letter of thanks for 
the offer, and postpone other matters till later. There 
is nothing like a little procrastination when you wish 
to negotiate. I shall probably get the seat by mak- 
ing fine speeches instead of a contribution. Let’s 
talk of something pleasanter. I have seen and had a 
chat with your young lady.” 

“ Whom do you mean ? ” 

“ Of course I mean Mile. Elsa Pessac ; she cer- 
tainly does credit to your taste, but I am sorry I can 
not sketch her.” 

Mr. Wentworth was taken aback at the notion of 
Mr. O’Lorrequer having been so rapid in his move- 
ments, and he could not understand why Mile. Elsa 
had said nothing to him about this interview, till he 
remembered that she had no opportunity to do so, 
their whole talk turning upon the visit to Homburg. 
Whether it was owing to the surprise occasioned by 
Mr. O’Lorrequer’s remark, or whether it was due to 
an irresistible impulse can not be determined : but he 
went on to confide to one who was a mere acquaint- 
ance, the story of his relation with Mile. Elsa. 

In so doing he was less indiscreet than, in a calmer 
moment, he might have supposed. No man could 
give better counsel in all things, except those which 
concerned himself, than Mr. O’Lorrequer. He was 
both shrewd and capable of judging most soundly 
about the affairs of his friends, and he felt the more 
disposed to give good advice to Mr. Wentworth be- 
cause he was flattered to be made the subject of his 
confidence. He had seen Mile. Elsa and her aunt for 
a few minutes only, and what he then heard from the 
aunt he now communicated to Mr. Wentworth. He 
said, My dear Wentworth, I must say that you 
appear to have made a conquest of the aunt. She did 


Ii8 MISS BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 

nothing but sound your praises, calling you a charm- 
ing man who was most amiable and clever, and who 
dearly loved the French. Upon my word, you would 
have no difficulty in marrying her ; but, at the same 
time, as she seems fond of her niece, I should think 
she would be almost as pleased if you became her 
nephew-in-law.” 

“ Did the niece say any thing ? ” 

“ You ought to know that French young ladies are 
forbidden to show their feelings before strangers; yet 
I am sure from the way she looked when I said I knew 
and liked you that your image was engraven on her 
heart. Besides, she took care to put in an assent to 
all her aunt’s praises of you.” 

Mrs. O’Lorrequer coming in to ask them whether 
they would take a cup of tea put an end to the con- 
versation. Soon afterward Mr. Wentworth returned 
to his hotel. He went to bed, having all but made up 
his mind to ask M. Pessac next day for permission to 
marry his daughter. He was sufficiently versed in 
French usages to avoid the mistake of asking the 
daughter to become his wife without having previously 
obtained her father’s consent. 

Early in the following morning he received a small 
packet which a messenger had brought from Monaco. 
It contained the volumes of Schiller’s works which he 
had lent to Mile. Elsa and which he had forgotten to 
bring away with him, and a note from Mile. Pessac was 
inclosed. It was to the effect that the volumes were 
sent in case they might be mislaid during the confus- 
ion of packing ; that she was delighted to have made 
his acquaintance and hoped to renew it, that she 
feared not to see him before starting for Bordeaux, as 
she might go off before her brother and her niece went 
to Homburg. He took this to imply that he need not 
call again at the house in the Rue du Tribunal. 

The postscript gave him greater pleasure than any 
thing else in the note. It ran : “ My niece says, she 
wishes to write ‘ good-by ’ as she can not say it. She 


RUPERT WENTWORTH PROPOSES. 119 

has expressed it in two German words which she tells 
me are the same as our au revoir'^ The niece's addi- 
tion was, “ Mr. Wentworth auf wiedersehen^ Elsa.” 
What struck him most, was not the message which 
might have little meaning, but the use of “ Mr.” This 
showed that she had remembered his teaching and had 
employed that form of address with a view to please 
him. When they first conversed in German she was 
accustomed, as was natural, to address him as “ Herr ” 
Wentworth. He told her that he preferred to be 
called “ Mr.,” and he explained that, while in England 
it was common to address a German as “ Herr,” an 
Italian as “ Signor,” a Frenchman as “ Monsieur,” in 
America every body was styled “ Mr.,” and that he 
preferred the American custom. She had acceded 
to his wish when conversing with him and she did so 
now in writing also. The matter was a trifling one, 
but the most trifling thing is magnified and acquires 
significance in a lover’s eyes. After reading the few 
words in her handwriting, he said to himself, “ Elsa 
evidently thinks of me,” and in saying this he thought 
all the more of her. 

Under the influence of an emotion to which he was 
a stranger he sat down and wrote to M. Pessac, as king 
the favor of an interview. He spoke French fluently, 
but he wrote it with difficulty. Had he been able to 
express himself with the nicety which the French lan- 
guage allows, he would have conveyed a hint of his 
purpose in seeking the interview. As it was, he could 
only say that he was anxious to see M. Pessac on a 
matter of great consequence to himself ; that, as he 
understood his sister and daughter to be so much 
occupied with preparing for their departure, it might 
be inconvenient if he called at the house in the Rue 
du Tribunal and therefore he hoped M. Pessac would 
not object to call upon him in the evening at the hotel 
where he was staying. 

M. Pessac returned an answer by bearer to the effect 
that he would gladly call soon after the hour at which 


120 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


Mr. Wentworth would have finished his dinner. He 
thought that Mr. Wentworth desired to see him before 
his departure in order to arrange about learning some- 
thing respecting the inner working of the Casino, a 
matter about which he had told him he desired fur- 
ther information for the purpose of inserting more 
details in the article which he had prepared for Paul 
and Chap7tian's Review. 

When M. Pessac called he began by saying, “ Here 
I am, my dear sir, quite at your service. Any thing 
you wish to know I shall have pleasure in telling you. 
Pray consider me at your disposal in every way.” 

“ Many thanks,” replied Mr. Wentworth, adding, 
“ but perhaps we are not thinking of the same thing.” 

“ Oh ! I fancied you wished me to give some fur- 
ther particulars for the review article which you told 
me had been returned to you. If I am mistaken, I 
beg your pardon ; yet, I repeat, I am entirely at your 
service.” 

Mr. Wentworth offered M. Pessac a cigar, and 
while the latter was lighting it, he tried to brace him- 
self for an effort which he then felt to be much more 
serious than it seemed during rehearsal. For the first 
time it flashed across his mind that he had disregarded 
a formality upon which the French set great store 
when a proposal for marriage has to be made. Accord- 
ing to French ideas and customs his uncle should 
have acted as an intermediary and asked M. Pessac 
for his daughter’s hand on his nephew’s behalf. How- 
ever, as it was too late to be over-fastidious about 
etiquette, Mr. Wentwerth began by saying, “ Perhaps 
you will excuse me, as an American, if I am about to 
make a proposition in a manner you may think un- 
usual. You will believe me I hope, when I say that I 
do not mean an offense.’.’ 

“ Certainly, my dear sir ; you have my pardon be- 
forehand. I have always found American politeness, 
as shown by you and your excellent uncle, to be almost 
equal to French.” This was said in a grave tone ; 


RUPERT WENTWORTH PROPOSES. 


I2I 


when Frenchmen are most serious they are distress- 
ingly polite. Feeling more nervous than he had ever 
done in his life, and not feeling re-assured by M. 
Pessac’s manner, Mr. Wentworth went on to say with 
all the calmness he could muster : “ Sir, the truth is 

that I love your daughter and I now ask your permis- 
sion to marry her.” 

Giving a start, M. Pessac said in no amiable ac- 
cents, “ I hope, sir, you have not made love to my 
daughter under the pretext of teaching her English ? ” 

“ Rest assured,” was the reply, “ that such a notion 
never entered my head.” 

M. Pessac gave a sigh of relief and Mr. Wentworth 
continued ; “ In America and England it is not un- 

common for a young man and woman to settle mat- 
ters themselves and then ask their parents’ consent to 
their marriage ; but I should never do so anywhere as 
I hold that the parents should be consulted in the first 
instance ; besides, as you know, I am not ignorant of 
French habits and it is on this account that I speak to 
you before having said a word to your daughter which 
could lead her to suppose that I desired to make her 
my wife.” 

With an altered manner M. Pessac said, “ I thank 
you, sir ; you have acted like a perfect gentleman.” 

Interrupting him, Mr. Wentworth said, “ Pardon 
me ; but I wish to finhsh my story before you give 
your decision. I am perfectly independent and, 
though not rich according to our American standard, 
I am well able to make a wife as comfortable as all 
fathers wish their daughters to be. The principal 
member of my family is the uncle whom you saw a 
few days ago and he quite approves of what I pro- 
pose to do. I may add that I should have postponed 
this declaration had I not heard that you were about 
to go away and this must be my excuse for the ab- 
ruptness with which I have placed the matter before 
you.” 

“No apology is required, sir. I have nothing to 


122 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


complain of. You have really risen in my estimation 
by your behavior and I shall never forget the kind- 
ness which you have manifested for my son. I feel, 
indeed, that I can not repay you and that I must 
remain your debtor, and I feel this the more keenly 
because I must decline your present request.” 

“ Pray, sir,” interrupted Mr. Wentworth, “ do not 
give your final decision now : I am quite ready to 
wait for an answer till you have further considered 
the matter and talked it over with your sister, whom 
you have told me you regard as a second mother to 
your daughter, and also till you have made inquiries 
about myself.” 

“ I have no doubt those inquiries would prove per- 
fectly satisfactory and it is because 1 am convinced of 
this that I wish to give my decision at once. My 
daughter’s marriage has long occupied my thoughts 
and though nothing has been arranged, yet I have a 
plan which may probably bear fruit. However, my 
mind is made up on one point. I shall never give my 
consent to my daughter marrying a foreigner. Excuse 
me for not giving my reasons. I can assure you with 
perfect truth, that you are the only person I have yet 
met who makes me regret that my determination is 
irrevocable.” 

Mr. Wentworth was thunderstruck to find that, after 
condescending to propose marriage to a croupier’s 
daughter, the croupier would not afford him the op- 
portunity to marry beneath him. Had he been treated 
surlily or called hard names he would have been the 
happier, as he would have had the compensation of 
cherishing a grievance. As it was, he was humiliated 
as well as bitterly disappointed ; worst of all. Mile. 
Elsa was dearer to him than ever. 

M. Pessac’s tone was that of a man thoroughly in 
earnest ; his manner was subdued yet self-possessed ; 
his courtesy could not be called in question and Mr. 
Wentworth felt that it was hopeless to plead with him. 
It is questionable whether his pride would have al- 


RUPERT WENTWORTH PROPOSES. 1 23 

lowed him to do so. He had so long considered him- 
self a superior person to M. Pessac that he could not 
immediately regard him from a different point of view. 
He had been taught from his youth up the self-evident 
truth, according to Jefferson, that “all men are cre- 
ated equal.” Like his countrymen, he frequently 
found this assumption in the Declaration of Independ- 
ence most difficult and repugnant to act up to. “ M. 
Pessac, I shall leave Monte Carlo without delay, but 
I hope we may meet again. Let me assure you that 
I did not mean any offense and let me ask your pardon 
if I have blundered unintentionally.” 

“ Nothing would please me more than to meet you 
again,” replied M. Pessac, “and indeed, I have to 
request in turn that we shall still remain good friends. 
You have acted in such a way that I should be sorry 
if you ceased to regard me with the respect and good 
feeling which I entertain for you.” He held out his 
hand which Mr. Wentworth shook, saymg, “ I have no 
reason to differ with you on this point. Again I have 
to express a wish, which is that you will not mention 
to your daughter any thing that has passed between 
us.” 

“ You may rest assured that she will never hear a 
word of it from me. In token of my anxiety to con- 
tinue our present acquaintance I may say that if you 
visit Homburg while we are there I shall be delighted 
to resume my acquaintance with you on the old foot- 
ing.” 

They parted with mutual compliments and expres- 
sions of good-will. Mr. Wentworth inwardly vowed 
not to visit Homburg till he was certain that M. Pessac 
and his daughter had left it. 

He started from Monte Carlo by the first train the 
following morning. When in mental trouble before, 
he had found relief and a philosophic frame of mind 
in Heidelberg ; he now resolved to seek the same 
remedy in his old rooms on the right bank of the 
Neckar. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


THE BAYLES IN PARIS, 


ORD PLOWDEN ETON s.taid a fortnight in 



Paris at the Grand Hotel, where Mrs. Bayles and ^ 


her daughter had taken up their abode. His intention 
was to remain one night only ; but he found the ladies 
so pleased with his company and he was so glad to be 
in theirs that he postponed his departure from day to 


day. 


He detested sight-seeing, yet he accompanied them 
from place to place without appearing to be suffering 
martyrdom. Happily, they did not care about going 
to the theater, or rather Miss Bayle, who wished to go, 
said that it was useless for her mother to spend an 
evening listening to a play of which she did not under- 
stand a word. Had the Opera-House been open they 
would have gone there, as it is not indispensable to 
understand the words in order to enjoy the music of 
an opera. He went the length of offering to go to 
the theater if they had wished ; he had the reward of 
being thanked for his courtesy without being called 
upon to put it in practice. As a rule, the ladies were 
worn out with sight-seeing and they remained quietly 
in their own sitting-room after dinner. Then he was 
free to amuse himself after his own fashion. 

He had a male cousin who was glad of any excuse 
to get away from his parent’s house in the Faubourg 
St. Germain. When they had the opportunity, the 
two cousins were in the habit of spending a great part 
of each night in seeing life. He spoke of Mrs. Bayle 
and her daughter to his aunt, the Countess de Flau- 


THE BA YLES hV PARTS. 


25 


bard, and asked permission to introduce them to her. 
This was granted, after she learned that they were 
very rich Americans and that the daughter was a 
beauty as well as a great heiress. Her desire was to 
find a rich wife for her only son who would inherit an 
old title and a very trumpery estate. It was arranged 
between her nephew and herself that she should call 
at the Grand Hotel to be introduced by him to Mrs. 
Bayle and her daughter, and that she should then invite 
them to one of her weekly receptions. 

When Lord Plowden told Mrs. Bayle that his aunt, 
the Countess de Flaubard, would call upon her the 
following day in order to make her acquaintance, she 
expressed her readiness to receive her. He gave her 
some information about the family into which his aunt 
had married and those particulars were communicated 
by her the same evening to her friend Mrs. Johnson, 
whom she was delighted to meet at the Grand Hotel. 

The Johnsons had spent two winters in Paris. 
There were five of them ; a mother and father, a son 
and two daughters. The father had made money at 
the trade of “ pork-packing ” and he was fulfilling the 
ambition of his mature years by spending it and enjoy- 
ing life in Europe. His family and he had seen the 
greater part of the European Continent and it was 
partly owing to the stories told by them to their 
friends the Bayles that the latter had made up their 
minds to follow their example. The Johnsons had 
egregiously failed, however, in one of their objects, 
which was to enter the best French society. Why 
they should have set their hearts upon this is more 
surprising than the fact that they had failed. The 
story of their elforts and failures is too long for an 
episode, though it is curious enough to deserve telling 
in outline. Suffice it, then, for the present to give a 
summary of what Mrs. Johnson told Mrs. Bayle when 
the latter said that she was to be introduced next day 
to the Countess de Flaubard : — 

“ Sakes alive ! Mrs. Bayle, I must say you are in 


126 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


luck. This countess belongs to the real upper tendom. 
Many of our folks would give their ears to be invited 
to her house. Once you have been received there you 
can go anywhere. Do you know that me and my hus- 
band have not yet been presented to any of these old 
French nobles, and my daughters Hattie and Minnie 
are quite mad at our failure. Our minister here pre- 
sented us to President Grevy, but what’s the good of 
that ? I guess he’s played out. Any one can see him. 
Besides, his reception was not half as fine a show as 
our president’s reception at Washington. 

“ I thought,” was Mrs. Bayle’s comment, “ that you 
did QOt think much of these foreign noblemen. Don’t 
you remember telling me at Chicago the last time you 
were home of that horrid story about poor Bessie 
Thomas, who married a French count and who, after 
spending all the money he could get and taking all 
her jewels and best clothes, left her without a cent and 
told her the marriage was not legal, and didn’t you 
and others take up a collection to send her home with 
her infant ? ” 

“ That was quite true ; but then the count was a 
bogus one who had been a courier and he complained 
that he did not get as much money with Bessie as he 
had expected and offered to marry her properly if 
her father would give him a million francs. The poor 
thing died a few weeks ^fter reaching New York. 
But the real noblemen are not like that, though, as 
our minister said when I spoke to him on the subject, 
our people should take care when marrying French- 
men that every thing is done squarely.” 

“ But there must be plenty of nice Americans here. 
I read in a newspaper thejother day that the American 
colony numbers seven thousand.” 

“ I don’t know how many Americans there are in 
Paris, but a more unsociable set you can not imagine. 
Most of them put on as many frills as New York 
society ladies. Oh ! there’s the first bell for dinner. 


THE BA YLES IH PARIS. 127 

I must go and fix myself, and we can talk over these 
things in your parlor afterward.” 

It is quite true, as Mrs. Baylq/had read, that there 
is a large American colony in Paris, and it is equally 
true, as Mrs. Johnson found, that it is a rather exclu- 
sive body of men and women. At the same time it is 
very mixed, consisting of millionaires who have more 
money than they can enjoy and artists struggling for 
a livelihood. The hospitality of Paris is the boast of 
Parisian journalists ; but it is a form of hospitality 
which implies no sacrifice, consisting in allowing the 
strangers who have money to spend, to be entertained 
by the keepers of hotels and restaurants who know 
how to charge. Among other things provided for the 
gratification of strangers is a kind of sham society 
where self-dubbed barons and counts are ready to 
entrap heiresses and give young men who have more 
money than brains ample facilities for buying experi- 
ence very dearly. 

It requires a trained taste to appreciate the best 
society, the choicest wines, the finest paintings, and 
such a taste is not possessed by all the English or 
Americans who visit Paris. Neither Mrs. Bayle nor her 
daughter made any pretension to it. Each liked to 
“ have a good time,” which meant enjoying herself in 
her own way. 

They both accepted the Countess de Flaubard’s 
invitation to her weekly reception, though they did not 
like her manner, which was condescending and patron- 
izing to a degree that would have made them painfully 
conscious of their own insignificance had they not had 
as good opinion of themselves as the countess enter- 
tained of herself. No properly constituted Westerner, 
or, indeed, no native-born American is liable to the 
European weakness of over-respect for those who are 
supposed to be Higher in the social scale. Hence the 
countess’s manner excited more surprise than annoy- 
ance. Mrs. Bayle and her daughter could not under- 
stand why she should give herself such airs after 


128 


MISS BA VLB'S ROMANCE, 


having intimated her desire to make their acquaint- 
ance, and they accepted her invitation partly out of 
curiosity and partly because they thought that to de- 
cline it would be a slight upon Lord Plowden Eton. 

The family mansion of the Flaubards in the Fau- 
bourg St. Germain was very old, very musty, and in 
sad want of repair. It smelled of the Middle Ages. 
The servants were in keeping. The company had an 
antique air and some of the men and women appeared 
as if they had stepped out of the picture frames which 
held the productions of an old master. Their speech 
was a glorification of a past which can not be restored 
and a denunciation of a present which must be 
endured. 

With the exception of Mrs. Bayle and her daughter 
and Father Kerdrec, the cure of the parish, every one 
at the Flaubards’ was of noble birth. The son of 
Breton fisher folk. Father Kerdrec had preserved the 
family manners as well as some of the locutions of 
his native Brittany. He meant well ; but, when con- 
versing with him, one regretted the more that the 
French priest of former days, with his exquisite polish 
and perfect tact, had passed away. However, it is not 
among priests only that good breeding is almost 
extinct and politeness a memory or a farce in France. 
As Mrs. and Miss Bayle entered the room. Father 
Kerdrec was indulging in the clerical luxury of a pinch 
of snuff and the noise which he made after applying a 
large brown cotton handkerchief to his nose made 
the room resound and the Hdies start. 

The countess advanced lo greet them and she did 
so with a grace which it was a tradition of the family 
to display when in their ancestral mansion. She 
introduced the ladies to her husband, who spoke very 
little English, and to her son Count Louis, who spoke 
English very well. Lord Plowden, ^vho had dined 
with his aunt, was present and he set himself to amuse 
Mrs. Bayle till all the visitors had arrived and his aunt 
was free to converse with her. The countess ques- 


THE BA YLES IN PAEIS. 


129 


tioned her about her travels and was glad to hear that 
she liked France and that she proposed spending a 
few months in Paris after her husband joined her, while 
Mrs. Bayle was astonished to hear from the countess 
a very sad account of the state of France, which 
she ascribed to the existence of the republic. 

Though not well versed in forms of government and 
though ignorant of French history, Mrs. Bayle enter- 
tained the common American superstition that a 
country in which the mere semblance of a republican 
form of government prevailed must have an advantage 
over any other. To questions from the countess what 
she intended doing with her daughter, she replied that 
her daughter had not yet signified her own wishes and 
that, till these were known, nothing could be deter- 
mined. This surprised the countess who had become 
imbued with the French notion that parents should 
settle the marriages of their children and that the 
latter need not, except as a matter of favor, have any 
voice in the matter. The countess turned the con- 
versation to religion, asked Mrs. Bayle about her opin- 
ions and whether she did not think it a good thing 
to be a Roman Catholic. However, in this matter as 
in others, the two ladies found that they had nothing 
in common, so the countess, under the pretext that she 
wished to speak to another guest, summoned her hus- 
band to take her place and do his best to converse 
with Mrs. Bayle. 

The countess had communicated her design to her 
husband after visiting the Bayles at the Grand Hotel 
and arriving at the conclusion that, as Miss Bayle was 
beautiful as well as an heiress, she would make a good 
wife for their son. Before going to the hotel she had 
called upon an American banker, asked him whether 
he knew any thing of Mr. Bayle and she was told that 
he was reputed to be a very rich man. Thus good 
looks and great wealth being the portion of Miss 
Bayle, the countess and her husband agreed that their 
son would do well to marry her. They had resolved, 


136 


Af/SS BA YLE'S BOMAATCB. 


however, to insist upon the condition that Miss Bayle 
must become a Roman Catholic before the marriage. 

The proudest and most cherished tradition of the 
Flaubard family was the glorious part which its mem- 
bers had played in slaying Saracens and Huguenots. 
As the countess had voluntarily embraced the faith of 
the Church of Rome before entering that family, she 
thought it would be a great triumph if she were the 
means of converting Miss Bayle before welcoming her 
as a daughter-in-law. The conversion of Miss Nevada 
to Roman Catholicism had been accounted a good 
work which would have been still more complete if 
that beautiful and rich young lady had married a 
Frenchman instead of an Englishman. The countess 
knew, moreover, that Americans had become the wives 
of the proudest members of the French nobility, and 
that these ladies, though American by birth and breed- 
ing, had been transformed by marriage into uncom- 
promising aristocrats. She felt quite certain that, if 
Miss Bayle were Count Louis’s wife, she would soon 
become as French in manner and feeling as the 
Princess Murat, the Marchioness of Chasseloup-Lau- 
bat, the Countess Saint-Romain, the Countess Olivier 
de Chevigne, and the Countess de Ganay. 

Young Count Louis had no inkling of his mother’s 
schemes for his happiness. Miss Bayle’s beauty fas- 
cinated him more than her manners. Her frank and 
unconventional style of speech shocked his narrow 
notions of propriety. Like other young Frenchmen 
belonging to royalist families, he had been trained 
according to the strictest traditions of the old school 
and had been filled to the brim with prejudices. 

The young Count Louis could read and write ; but 
he was devoid of knowledge. He was bigoted with- 
out possessing genuine religious convictions. His 
worst failing was that he had not the slightest notion 
of his utter ignorance. Like his family and associates 
he believed that France was hastening to destruction 
for want of a king and that the republican form of 


THE BA YLES IN PARIS. 


131 

government was an invention of the devil. He had 
heard that the United States of America had pros- 
pered exceedingly as a republic ; but he labored 
under the delusion that so many Americans made 
Paris their home because the government of their own 
country was intolerable to them. He had conversed 
with the American ladies named above who had married 
French royalists and who had become more royalist 
than any queen, and he foolishly inferred from their 
exaggerated remarks that all good Americans were 
royalists at heart. Filled with these absurd notions 
he began his conversation with Miss Bayle by saying, 
“ I suppose you are disappointed with Paris. It is a 
dull city now. Every thing here would please you and 
other strangers far better if the king were on the 
throne." 

“ The king ! " she exclaimed in amazement, “ I 
guess kings are played out in France. Besides, I think 
Paris very lively and pleasant. I don’t see any thing 
wrong." 

Not quite understanding what she meant by 

Played out," he added, “ Perhaps we may have to 
wait a little longer. The death of Henri Cinq was a 
great blow, but the House of France survives, and all 
right-thinking persons believe that the republic will 
collapse soon and that a king will restore France to 
her former prosperity." 

“ I can’t say I know much about your French poli- 
tics ; but Lord Plowden told me that your^republic 
is firmly established and that there is no immediate 
prospect of another revolution." 

“ Please don’t say to me ‘ your ’ republic. We en- 
dure but do not recognize it. Besides, you must not 
trust my cousin in this matter. He does not detest 
the republic as I do, or if he does he says nothing 
against it since the Prince of Wales visited M. Grevy 
and had an interview with Gambetta who, I am glad 
to say, is dead. However, though Paris is not what 


132 


M/SS BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 


it would be if a king were reigning, it must strike you 
as far finer than any of your American cities." 

Now Miss Bayle, like all her countrywomen, liked 
Paris as a city, yet she was too patriotic an American 
to allow, without a protest, all the cities of her native 
land to be condemned in her presence, so she said 
warmly, “ I guess, sir, we’ve as elegant stores in Chi- 
cago and New York as any in Paris. Why two of the best 
I have seen here are those of Tiffany and Howard & 
Co., and both are branches of American houses. Your 
streets may be better kept but that is the only differ- 
ence. Besides, your countrymen are not nearly so 
good-mannered as mine." 

A reflection upon French politeness, however just 
and well deserved, cuts a Parisian to the quick. Hence 
Count Louis had to control himself when he replied : 
“ Surely, Miss'Bayle, you must be mistaken. All the 
world admits that Parisians are models of politeness, 
excepting, of course, some of our republicans to 
whom you must refer. They are pigs." 

“ I have already said I know little about your poli- 
tics ; but I have had an experience of French polite- 
ness which I shall not forget in a hurry. The day 
after arriving mother had a headache and did not feel 
like going out. Lord Plowden had gone to call upon 
your mother so I went for a stroll to look at the 
stores, and I was never so insulted in my life." 

“ What ! You vrent out alone ? " 

“ Why not ? I do so every day in Chicago." 

It was the turn of Count Louis to be thunderstruck. 
For a young unmarried lady to take a walk in Paris 
or any other city by herself constituted a grave breach 
of decorum in his eyes. He was more shocked at 
Miss Bayle’s avowal than surprised at her experience. 
She seemed far less charming than when he first saw 
her and he felt relieved when her mother came and 
said, “ Almy, the carriage is waiting and Lord Plow- 
den says if we go now he will accompany us to the 
hotel." Count Louis thought that, when Miss Bayle 


THE BA YLES IN PARIS. 


133 


least required an escort, she got one. As he was on the 
point of making a ceremonious bow to the ladies, first 
the one and then the other held out her hand to him. 
For a young lady whom he met for the first time to offer 
to shake hands with him was as contrary to his notions 
of propriety as it was for her to walk the streets unat- 
tended. 

As the party drove back to the Grand Hotel Mrs. 
Bayle said, in reply to Lord Plowden’s remark that he 
hoped she had passed a pleasant evening, that she did 
not care for the best French society if what she had 
seen was a fair specimen of it ; she added, “ The 
countess seemed very anxious to know whether I did 
not think the Roman Catholic religion the most satis- 
factory and whether Almy would not like to become a 
Roman Catholic. I told her that Almy was old 
enough to answer for herself and that many of my 
friends in Chicago were Roman Catholics, but that in 
America we did not trouble ourselves about each oth- 
er’s religion as it was the business of each person to 
choose his own church, and I had always been a Uni- 
tarian and did not care to change. She asked me 
what a Unitarian was and said she supposed the peo- 
ple who went to Unitarian churches were some sort of 
Dissenters. We have no Dissenters in America, I 
told her, and she seemed puzzled.” So was Lord 
Plowden, it may be added ; but he gave no sign of 
ignorance. He was as unacquainted as his aunt with 
the religious views of Unitarians, and it was news to 
him that Dissenters did not exist in free and enlight- 
ened America. He made a mental vow to look up a 
dictionary on the first opportunity to see if he could 
find a definition of ‘‘ Unitarian ” lest his aunt should 
speak to him on the subject. Mrs. Bayle continued : 
“ Your aunt pressed me to have a talk with Monsignor 
Roussel, who she thought would do me and Almy much 
good as he had reconciled her — that is the word she 
used — to the Catholic Church. I begged to be ex- 
cused and she seemed displeased. Now I want to 


134 MISS BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 

know whether French and English ladies always 
trouble their guests about the churches they go to, 
because, if that’s so, I shall avoid their company.” 

Lord Plowden answered, “ I am very sorry, Mrs. 
Bayle, that my aunt has been annoying you in that way. 
It is her weak point. Having joined the Church of 
Rome herself, she thinks all her friends and acquaint- 
ance ought to follow her example. When she visits 
us in England my father makes it a condition that 
religion is never to be discussed.” 

Miss Bayle remarked, “ I was questioned too, but 
on another subject. Your cousin. Lord Plowden, 
wished to know my views about politics and he kept 
telling me that France was being ruined since it be- 
came a republic.” 

“ Why ! ” interposed her mother, “ the countess 
said the same thing to me.” 

“You must allow other people, ladies, to have their 
own views about governments,” said Lord Plowden in 
the most conciliatory tone. 

“Why certainly,” replied both ladies in a breath, 
and as the carriage entered the court-yard of the Grand 
Hotel almost the same moment Lord Plowden was 
relieved from the embarrassment of taking part in a 
conversation which was not to his taste. 

Lord Plowden called upon his aunt next day and he 
learned some things from her which both instructed 
and disquieted him. She confided to him her plan 
respecting her son and Miss Bayle and she told him 
that, though her son admired Miss Bayle very much, 
he thought she had been very badly trained and re- 
quired further education before she could become the 
wife of a French nobleman. The countess was dis- 
posed to undertake the duty and consulted Lord Plow- 
den as to whether Miss Bayle would not pay them a 
visit at their country house in Normandy. He knew 
that an invitation to that effect had no chance of 
being accepted, so he did not object to its being made. 
He had not the slightest intention of aiding his cousin 


THE BA YLES IN PARIS, 


135 


to marry Miss Bayle, as he felt perfectly certain that 
his cousin would not be a suitable husband for her. 
This may appear very considerate on his part ; yet, 
after all, what right had he to concern himself about 
Miss Bayle’s future ? 

He told his aunt that Mrs. Bayle had complained 
about her proselyting zeal, and she excused herself by 
saying that Miss Bayle could not marry her son un- 
less she changed her religion. She also said that she 
had asked Father Kerdrec what form of religion the 
Unitarian was and that he informed her it was one of 
the many heresies which prevailed in America and was 
one of the worst. Lord Plowden left his aunt regret- 
ting that he had introduced the Bayles to her, and 
'determined not to encourage their further intercourse. 

The usual visit of ceremony was paid by Mrs. Bayle 
and her daughter to the countess ; the latter called 
again at the Grand Hotel but did not find them there. 
She wrote a note inviting Miss Bayle to visit them in 
the month of August at the family seat in Normandy 
and saying that this might enable her to see some- 
thing of French home-life. The invitation was politely 
declined on the ground that no arrangements could 
be made till after Mr. Bayle’s arrival. The countess 
replied expressing her regret not to see more of them 
and her hope that they would revisit her when they 
returned to Paris. . 


CHAPTER XVII. 


THE NOBLE SAVAGE AND HIS FRIENDS. 

T en days had elapsed since the party arrived in 
Paris, when Lord Plowden Eton told Mrs. Bayle 
he was sorry that urgent private affairs obliged him to 
leave for London without delay. He was pleased to be 
with the Bayles ; he found Miss Bayle more charming 
every day, and her manner toward him had become 
more cordial. But he could not be out of England on 
the Derby day ; for several years he had not missed 
going to Epsom during the race week. This was the 
pressing business- which he could not neglect. 

He told the ladies that he would introduce them 
that day to a countryman of their own who could tell 
them all they might desire to know about France, 
about the French in particular, and things in general 
also. He had met this gentleman during a trip to 
Switzerland the year before and he had called upon 
and renewed acquaintance with him since being in 
Paris. He said that this gentleman, whose name was 
King Edwards, knew Mr. Bayle by reputation and 
would be glad to become acquainted with his wife and 
daughter. 

“ What ! ” Miss Bayle said, “ is that the author of 
‘ The Noble Savage ? ’ I have got the book in my trunk 
along with my other favorite volumes. I should so 
love to see the author.” 

Here again Lord Plowden was at fault ; he knew that 
Mr. King Edwards was an author and journalist, buf 


THE NOBLE SA VAGE AND HIS FRIENDS. 137 


he did not even know the titles of his books. He con- 
fessed his ignorance and promised to inquire what Mr. 
King Edwards had written before introducing him. 

Later in the day the introduction took place in Mrs. 
Bayle’s sitting-room, when Lord Plowden said : 

“ Miss Bayle, I have much pleasure in bringing the 
noble savage to make your acquaintance ; he has 
assured me that he will do nothing worse than make 
you the subject of a poem.” 

She shook hands with the new-comer and remarked, 
“ I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, sir. 
I think some of your poems are lovely. I have read 
them all.” 

“ I am delighted to have had so fair and appreci- 
ative a reader,” was Mr. King Edwards’s reply. He 
felt more flattered than he cared to admit, as he pre- 
ferred those who praised his poems to those who said 
that his novels were admirable. There was nothing 
of the savage in his appearance, except his hair, which 
was as black and lank as that of any North American 
Indian, and his figure, which was tall and lithe and 
slender. But his dress and manner were entirely 
French and he might have been taken for a handsome 
Frenchman from the Midi who had acquired a Parisian 
varnish. Of course he loved America, though he was 
never so happy as in Paris, and he was as prejudiced 
against England as any Parisian. But no Parisian had 
his talent and liking for entertaining friends and 
acquaintances, not with fine compliments which were 
valueless, but with cordial and lavish hospitality. 
After exchanging a few remarks, he said, 

“ Now, ladies, when will you favor me with your 
company at dinner ? ” 

“ I thank you, sir,” was Mrs. Bayle’s answer, “ we 
have no engagement at present.” 

“ Then let us fix the day after to-morrow. Lord 
Plowden told me as we came along that he must leave 
for London in three days, so we have no time to lose ; 
besides, two English friends who are passing through 


13^ iMJSS BA yiE*S BOMABTCE. 

Paris said this morning that they could dine with me 
on that day.” 

The invitation was accepted ; Mr. King Edwards 
left the room and after the door closed, Miss Bayle 
said, “ Mother, isn’t he just handsome ? But he 
doesn’t look a bit like an American. What do you 
say. Lord Plowden ? ” 

Mrs. Bayle agreed with her daughter,as was her cus- 
tom when her daughter had manifested a decided pref- 
erence. 

Lord Plowden replied, “ You are a better judge of 
this than I am. Miss Bayle ; besides, you may remem- 
ber telling me when we discussed the appearance of 
my cousin Count Louis that one gentleman was the 
worst critic of another.” 

The party, including the two Englishmen referred 
to, met at the appointed time in the room of one of 
those old-fashioned Paris restaurants of which the num- 
ber is rapidly diminishing. It is known as “ Evians ” 
and is the last place which a passing stranger would 
dream of entering. Those persons, however, who ap- 
preciate choice food, good cooking and sound wines 
prefer it to many more modern and more pretentious 
as well as expensive restaurants where the cooking is 
detestable and the wines are on a par with it. 

Half an hour before dinner Mr. King Edwards 
called at the Grand Hotel in order to escort the ladies 
to the restaurant, a piece of politeness which they ap- 
preciated, and to tell them about the persons whom 
they were to meet, a mark of attention for which they 
had equal reason to thank him. 

“ I am very glad,” he said, “ that Mr. Atlas and his 
friend, Baron Parkhirst, have promised to dine with 
me ; they are two of the pleasantest Englishmen — 
Lord Plowden of course makes the third — whom I 
have met.” 

Lord Plowden, who was present, had not lived so 
long in Paris as Mr. King Edwards ; hence, he was 
unprepared to return the, compliment thus paid to him. 


THE NOBLE SA FACE AND HIS EE/ENDS. I39 

and he only blushed after looking as if he would say 
something but did not know what. Miss Bayle, on 
the other hand, was ready with a question the moment 
Mr. King Edwards finished speaking. 

“Is Mr. Atlas the first-class English novelist who 
made a lecturing tour in America a few years ago ? 1 

was a little girl then but I enjoyed the lecture which 
I heard. Say, mother, didn’t you like him so much 
that you got all his books which I read afterward ?” 

“ That’s so, Almy. Mr. Atlas was very amusing. 
I was real sick with malaria when he was in Chicago 
and his lecture did me as much good as my medicine.” 

“ It is a pity,” Mr. King Edwards continued, “ that 
you can not hear him make an after-dinner speech. I 
have never heard any Englishman speak better except 
Dickens. You may not know, perhaps, that he is also 
one of the most successful journalists of the day, and 
I am sure you will find him a pleasant companion. 
But let me warn you. Miss Bayle, against praising him 
to his face ; he knows the value of compliments too 
well and, for that reason perhaps, he is always ready to 
bestow them.” 

“ Surely ! ” she exclaimed, “ I may say I have read 
all his novels and like them very much, especially ‘ Bad 
Boys,' in which he says in his ‘ Memoirs,’ he has put 
all his friends, and that I am sorry he has given up writ- 
ing novels.” 

“Certainly you iiiay say that you wish he would 
write some more. If he should take the hint we shall 
all be delighted. But I must now tell you something 
about Baron Parkhirst who, if he were a native of our 
country, I should call one of our most remarkable citi- 
zens. I could write a book about his life ; but I did 
not come to weary you with a long story, so I must 
content myself with mentioning a few incidents in it. 
I first made his acquaintance in Rome about eight 
years ago. The newspapers were filled with a report 
and praises of an address which he had come from 
England to deliver to the Freemasons.” 


140 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

** Pardon me for interrupting you,” said Lord Plow- 
den, but are you a mason ? ” 

No, I am not ; but my father was one and I may 
have inherited some of his masonic virtues — at least I 
hope so. To return to the baron. His address was 
praised for the beauty of its language as well as for 
the fineness of the sentiments, and, though I am not a 
very good Italian scholar, I was greatly struck with it. 
After making his acquaintance — he was not a baron 
then — I found him a thorough John Bull and an un- 
usually amiable one. His life has been as varied as 
that of an American. If I am rightly informed by 
those who know and envy him, he was for a time a 
member of the British Civil Service and worked hard 
in Sometset House ; but not finding sufficient scope 
there for his ability and energy, and possessing a small 
private fortune, he took to journalism, and wrote 
articles on social topics which led to important legisla- 
tion. He married the handsome daughter of a prom- 
inent and wealthy engineer, traveled over India and 
America, became the head of several important com- 
panies and a patron of the drama and literature, with 
a tongue arid purse always ready to advance both. He 
found time in his few intervals of leisure to pursue 
linguistic studies, and is as well known as an authority 
on comparative philology as the most learned professor 
at any university. 

“ I met the baron in Vienna four years ago at the 
Congress of the International Literary and Artistic 
Association, when he delivered an address which sur- 
prised the German and French men of letters who 
were present. He had just come from a trip through 
Hungary where he had bought an estate. Since then 
he has made himself the idol of the Hungarians by 
reading before their Historical Society at Buda Pesth 
a paper on The Magyar Race and Lafiguage^ wherein 
some problems which had puzzled their learned men 
were lucidly solved. It is partly for this reason that 
the Emperor of Austria created him a baron of the 


THE NOBLE SA VAGE AND HIS FRIENDS. 14 1 

empire. He is now returning to London after visiting 
his estate in Hungary. Should you be in London when 
Mr. Atlas or he presides at a public banquet I advise 
you to be present. While Mr. Atlas recalls Dickens as 
a speaker, Baron Parkhirst recalls Lord Beaconsfield.” 

“ Almy, dear,” remarked Mrs. Bayle, “ make a note 
of that. You know my fondness for attending meet- 
ings where good speeches are made.” 

“ If that be your taste, madam, it will be gratified in 
London. The English are even fonder of public din- 
ners than we are ; besides, they have adopted the very 
sensible plan of allowing ladies. to sit with the gentle- 
men, so you will have a double pleasure. But it is 
time to go to the restaurant. Before we go, 1 may tell 
you that I saw Mr. Gill this morning, who is the 
manager of the American International Bank, which 
has its headquarters in London. Before starting for 
Paris last night he received a cable dispatch from his 
New York house, in which it was said that Mr. Bayle 
had made what you Westerners call ‘ a big strike.’ He 
has cleared several millions and was starting for 
Europe. The Chicago people are so pleased at his 
having made this money at the expense of Eastern 
capitalists that they talk of erecting a monument to 
him. I suppose he will be preparing to erect a mauso- 
leum for his own use hereafter, as that seems to be the 
custom of our great capitalists.” 

“ Don’t say that,” protested Mrs. Bayle with un- 
wonted warmth, “ I hate mausoleums. It’s bad enough 
being buried, and it seems like tempting Providence 
to prepare one’s tomb before hand. However, I am 
glad to hear the news. When I last wrote to Mr. Bayle 
I told him to address his messages to London, and 
that is why he has not cabled me here.” 

Though the walk to the restaurant did not last 
many minutes, Mrs. Bayle had time enough to learn 
in the course of it that Mr. King Edwards was a New 
Englander and that he had visited her native village 
when a boy. This raised him in her estimation far 


142 


M/SS BA VLB'S ROMANCE. 


more than all the poems and novels which he had 
written. 

Lord Plowden, who walked with Miss Bayle, said to 
her, “ I must congratulate you on your father’s suc- 
cess.” 

“ I am glad he is done with money-making,” she re- 
plied. “ He is always away from home when planning 
some big strike. He was quite sick before we started. 
Mother does not seem to have noticed it ; but I am 
sure the anxiety is making an old man of him. He 
had a fit four weeks before we left, and the doctor told 
him then he must put on the brakes. I hope he will 
do so now.” 

This was the first time she had spoken confiden- 
tially to Lord Plowden. He was the more gratified 
because she displayed such a real concern for her 
father. 

The dinner was a perfect success, and it was as great 
a novelty to Lord Plowden as it was to the ladies. He 
had never met with pleasanter people nor with any 
who differed so much, and for the better, from those 
who formed his own set in London. Mr. King Edwards 
was disappointed to find that his countrywomen were 
in that water-drinking stage out of which few of them 
pass till they have spent some time in Europe. Miss 
Bayle accepted a single glass of champagne, but the 
choice Bordeaux and Burgundy were left untouched 
by her mother and herself. The Englishmen, how- 
ever, did not disappoint their host by over-abstemious- 
ness. On the contrary, they diligently exerted them- 
selves to make amends for the refusal of the ladies to 
enjoy the good wine placed on the table. 

Baron Parkhirst told the company that, after a 
series of experiments, he had succeeded in producing 
some wine on his Hungarian estate which closely re- 
sembled the finest Chambertin and he promised to 
make a present of some to each of the gentlemen. 
Mr. Atlas did not appear at all displeased when Miss 
Bayle paid him compliments ; on the contrary, he re- 


THE NOBLE SA VAGE AND HIS FRIENDS: 143 

turned them with interest and emphasis. Both Baron 
Parkhirst and Mr. Atlas had told some good stories 
and said many witty things, and Mr. King Edwards 
kept up a successful rivalry with them. These good 
things must be taken for granted. To reproduce 
dinner-table talk in its freshness and sparkle is as im- 
possible as to convey an adequate notion of the flavor 
of the dishes or the bouquet of the wines. The say- 
ings which tell and charm at the moment are as flat on 
repetition as a bottle of champagne which has remained 
uncorked for a night. 

Mrs. and Miss Bayle found, not for the first time 
since landing at Genoa, that accident had befriended 
them far better than the letters of introduction which 
they carried but which they had not presented. In 
making the acquaintance of Mr. Atlas and Baron 
Parkhirst, they had enlisted two gentlemen in their 
service who could contribute quite as much as Lord 
Plowden to render their stay in London agreeable. 
Both pressed Mrs. Bayle to inform them of their arri- 
val there in order that they might call, introduce their 
wives, and arrange for other meetings. Mrs. Bayle 
and her daughter agreed that they had never spent a 
more agreeable evening, and they agreed also that 
what is called the best society in Paris is not the most 
attractive. 

Mr. King Edwards insisted upon escorting them 
back to the hotel. Before parting, both the ladies 
and Lord Plowden were warm in expressing their 
thanks. Miss Bayle was most effusive in her assur- 
ances that she had enjoyed “ an elegant dinner and 
had a real good time.” She proceeded to pay many 
pretty compliments to Mr. Atlas and Baron Parkhirst 
which, being uttered behind their back.s, were prob- 
ably sincere, and then, turning to Lord Plowden, she re- 
marked, “ I must say you English are very good com- 
pany at a dinner table.” This compliment was a dubious 
one and Mr. King Edwards considerately relieved Lord 
Plowden from making any reply by indulging in a 


144 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

poet’s license and telling Mrs. Bayle how his two 
English friends had thanked him before leaving the 
restaurant for introducing them to such attractive 
specimens of his countrywomen and assuring him that 
they preferred Western ladies to any others in 
America. He ended his speech by saying, “ I must 
now bid you good-by, Lord Plowden, as you start to- 
morrow morning ; but I hope, ladies, to see you again 
before you leave. Perhaps you will come and join 
some other Americans at a breakfast where there will 
be none but American dishes.” 

“ Will there be hot cakes ? ” was Miss Bayle’s eager 
question. 

‘‘ Yes ; there will be hot cakes and maple syrup 
with them, and green corn too.” 

“ Oh, how lovely ! It seems ages since I saw green 
corn. I am just dying to taste hot cakes again. 
Aren’t you, mother ? ” 

“ I should like nothing better, Almy.” Then, turn- 
ing to Mr. King Edwards, Mrs. Bayle said, “ We are 
much obliged to you, sir, for giving us such a treat.” 

The ladies wrote letters on the following day. Like 
all persons who write very seldom Mrs. Bayle covered 
sheet after sheet with trivial details which need not be 
repeated. In this, as in a former case, it may be suffi- 
cient to reproduce the more coherent parts of her 
epistle. She addressed her- letter to the care of the 
agent of the Cunard Company at Queenstown in 
order that her husband might receive it on landing 
there : 

“ After arriving here I cabled you ‘ All well ; shall 
stay here four weeks ; then go to London ; address 
there Hotel Metropole.’ Your reply came next day : 
— ‘ May be detained thirty days. Write care Cunard 
agent, Queenstown, Ireland.’ Alma and me have 
seen enough of Paris and we shall not be sorry to 
leave it. We think we shall like England better than 
we expected, as we have made the acquaintance of 


THE NOBLE SA VAGE AND HIS FRIENDS. 145 


many real nice English people who have invited us to 
visit them at their homes. 

“ Our friends the Johnsons are here now. They have 
often been in England and they tell me the English 
have one merit compared with the French, and that 
is when they tell you they want to see you again they 
mean what they say and they are disappointed if they 
are not taken at their word. We have also got to 
know an American settled in Paris who is quite as 
nice as the English folks we have met in traveling. 

His name is King Edwards and he is a prominent 
newspaper man whose name you may have seen 
mentioned in the Paris correspondence of The Tribune 
[Mrs. Bayle meant The Tribune of Chicago and not 
that of New York]. Alma has read one of his books 
and says it is quite too lovely. He gave us a dinner 
in a strange place which they say is a part of old Paris, 
but I prefer the new restaurants where the rooms are 
full of mirrors and much bigger. Still the dinner was 
very good and the guests pleasant gentlemen. 

“ Lord Plowden Eton, about whom I wrote before, 
came with us to Paris and he has been very attentive 
and helped us much in traveling. He has gone home 
as he had important business in London on the Derby 
day. Alma did not like his ways at first, though she 
thought him very good looking, and now she says she 
is real sorry he has gone. He presented us to his 
aunt who married a French count, and we went to a 
reception at her house. They tell • me that only the 
best French society is found at her house, but I did 
not care for it, and unless the people are more sociable 
in England I shall not hanker after the good society 
there.” 

Other matters of a pecuniary kind filled the remain- 
der of the letter, while among the parts omitted is 
an account of some things which Miss Bayle deals with 
more graphically in a letter to her friend, Sadie ^ 
James, at Chicago : 


146 MJSS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

“ Dearest Sadie, 

“ I am having a real good time. I think Europe 
just lovely, but I am a little disappointed with Paris. 
The stores are not larger and finer than those of Chi- 
cago and New York and every thing is very dear. 
When mother and I first went shopping we thought it 
strange to be asked whether we were Americans or 
English and of course we said we were Americans. 
Some Chicago friends whom mother met at the hotel 
told her there are three prices in many stores, the 
French pay the lowest, the English twice as much 
again, and the Americans three times. Isn’t that 
shameful ? We have put off getting many things 
till we get to London where we are told that the 
dry goods are quite as nice as in Paris and where 
every body pays the same price, which is far less 
than here. 

“ You have read about French politeness, but you 
would see little of it if you were in France unless 
taking off one’s hat is what Frenchmen mean by 
politeness. A young lady can not walk about alone 
without being stared at and even spoken to by stran- 
gers. The street crossings are something dreadful, 
rhere are very seldom any policemen to assist ladies 
across as in America and the hack drivers try to run 
over anyone who leaves the sidewalk. One day when 
1 got to the Column of Napoleon, which is in the mid- 
dle of a wide square, I felt quite scared and afraid to 
go further. A gentleman who spoke some English 
asked me if I would accept his escort, so he helped 
me across and walked with me to the hotel. He gave 
me his card and said he was a deputy, that is, a mem- 
ber of the French House of Representatives. The 
name on the card was, Gascon de Viveur. I said to 
him I was an American. He asked to be allowed to 
call next day as he would like to talk about America. 
1 told him my name, and, as he seemed quite a gentle- 
man, I said he might call. He came, and after enter- 
ing the parlor he rushed forward, took the hand which I 


THE NOBLE SA VAGE AND HIS FRIENDS. 147 

held out and kissed it saying, ‘ Meess, I loaf you.’ This 
made me just mad, so I went to the bell and rang it, 
and as I did so, mother came into the room. I said, 
‘ This is the gentleman I told you about yesterday ; 
he has insulted me.’ Mother fired up and told him to 
leave the room, which he did muttering something 
about not knowing I had a mother and begging to 
apologize. Just as he had gone the servant came in 
and I told him not to show the gentleman to our par- 
lor should he ever call again. You may suppose this 
did not make me think highly about Frenchmen. 

“ I may tell you also that I do not believe they like 
us. The letters which I read at home in The Tribune 
from the Paris correspondent made me think the 
French are great friends of America. Well, I read 
something in Le Figaro which is far more uncompli- 
mentary to us than any thing I have ever seen taken 
from the English papers. It is about Mr. Albert Mil- 
laud who has just come back from America, and he 
says that ‘ the American reader is still in his infancy 
and incapable of understanding the finest things in 
art and literature. He requires to be taught and in 
teaching him one must do as is done with little chil- 
dren who are told the .history of Tom Thumb so as 
gradually to impart to him the meaning of the best 
Greek and Roman stories.’ This appears in an arti- 
cle objecting»to interviewing. Next day a Mr. Pierre 
Giffard defended interviewing but said Mr. Millaud 
was quite right in what he said against American jour- 
nalists. Another writer says in a later number of the 
paper that American ladies are not unpleasant com- 
panions but that American gentlemen are ‘ Brittani- 
cized Indians.’ He is a Mr. Labruyere. Would you 
believe it ? Two of the live papers in Paris,- one in 
English, the other in French, have been both estab- 
lished and edited by Americans ! 

“ I have seen a good deal of the English lord I 
wrote about from Monte Carlo and I find him far 
more polite and pleasant than the French I have met, 


148 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


though as I said, he is not very bright. He has been 
very attentive to mother and me, and mother thinks 
him a real nice gentleman. He always agrees with 
me about books, which Tom Bates never did. Have 
you seen Tom since I left ? Tell me about him when 
you write. Send your letters to the American Inter- 
national Bank, Trafalgar Square, London, England. 

“ Do you remember reading ‘ The Noble Savage,’ by 
King Edwards ? Lord Plowden has made us ac- 
quainted with him. He is one of the prominent Amer- 
icans here. He is a handsome man. When I told him 
what I thought of the French he did not seem pleased 
and said that I might not be so prejudiced against 
them after being longer from home. When I asked 
him what he thought of the shameful treatment of 
Miss Van Zandt, he tried to make out that it was not 
owing to her being an American, but I said I was cer- 
tain of it. I don’t know why it is ; but American gen- 
tlemen who have lived some time in Paris seem to 
think* no other place is worth living in. We go to 
England in a day or two and I may send you as long 
a letter from there if I find a long one from you when 
I get to London.” 

A few days after these letters had been written and 
sent off, Mrs. Bayle and her daughter were seated in 
their private room in the Hotel Metropole, London, 
when a telegram was put into Mrs. Bayle’s hands. *It 
was from her husband, was dated Queenstown, and 
ran thus : “Just landed from Aurania. Had pleas- 
ant passage. Have got your letter ; am passing 
through Ireland; shall reach London in four days.” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

A millionaire’s rise in the world. 

M r. EZRA PALGRAVE BAYLE was a good 
specimen of the New Englander who had gone 
West, had grown up with the country and become a 
millionaire. Many Westerners who have made their 
mark are natives of an Eastern state. The Far West 
is now a vanishing quantity. It is a mere figure of 
speech. What was regarded as the Great American 
Desert, when the present generation was at school, is 
now thickly populated, and the desert has shrunk 
within a very narrow compass. 

When the present century was young, the city of 
Buffalo was regarded as a Western city ; then Cincin- 
nati was so designated ; St. Louis and Chicago were 
for several years cities in the Far West ; Denver rose 
and became to them what Chicago had been to New 
York. Now the pioneers have had to pause in their 
Western march, for the ocean has been reached and 
those who press forward from San Francisco in quest 
of “ bright homes in the setting sun ” must sail across 
the Pacific, when they will reach an older and more 
marvelous East than that which they left behind them 
on the resounding shore of the Atlantic. 

In San Francisco the people speak with pride of 
being Californians and, when they turn their faces 
toward the East which was the home of their fathers, 
they patronizingly announce that they are going to 
the States. The inhabitants of Denver and other 
cities in the heart of the North American Continent 


M/SS BA YLE'S BOMANCE. 


150 

regard Chicago as an eastern city, just as the inhabi- 
tants of Chicago regard New York. The time is 
over, however, for the West drawing all its population 
and its capitalists from the East. On the Pacific slope 
a large proportion of the best settlers come from New 
England. Many of those who are now rich men in 
Colorado migrated thither in their younger and poorer 
days from the state of New York. People have long 
flocked to Chicago from all parts of the American 
Continent and many parts of the woi;ld, Ireland and 
Germany furnishing the largest proportion of immi- 
grants and some of the best and worst citizens. 

Mr. Ezra P. Bayle, whom the citizens of Chicago 
delight to honor because he has grown very rich 
among them, went there when both he and the city 
were young, being attracted thither by the tales which 
reached him in his native village of Abraxa in that 
Green Mountain State which bears the official name 
of Vermont. 

Mr. Bayle’s father was a small farmer who died 
when hU only child was ten years old. His mother 
carried on the farm with the help of a hired man, who 
was discharged when the boy left the village school at 
the age of twelve. His education, like that of many 
other New England children, consisted in reading, 
writing and arithmetic, and some scraps of history 
relating chiefly to the United States and their Consti- 
tution. 

The boy’s life was a hard one, the small farm yield- 
ing just enough to support his mother and himself, 
'rheir food was bread, beans and bacon ; their drink 
was water. The butter, milk and eggs produced on 
the farm were sold, the proceeds barely sufficing to 
pay for the very plain clothing worn by the widow and 
her son. She died when he was seventeen. He did 
not then know that he had any near relatives ; indeed, 
it was not till he had grown rich and till his name 
constantly figured in the newspapers that he learned 
how Providence had blessed him with many cousins 


A MILLIONAIRE'S RISE IN THE IVORLD. 151 


who were very poor and effusively affectionate. They 
had always cherished the conviction that he would get 
on in the world ; they had considerately kept their 
fond eyes upon him at a respectful distance, and they 
expected fhat he would amply repay them for their 
patient and hopeful watching and waiting. 

When free to do as he pleased, he felt his native 
village to be too small for him and he had a longing 
for the West. To him it was, what Kingsley pictured 
it as being to the adventurers in the brave days of 
Elizabeth, “ The land of hope and the land of dreams.” 
He determined to turn his face thitherward. 

A neighbor gave him five hundred dollars for his 
small farm, a price far below its value ; but he could 
not get any other offer, and, being in haste to depart, 
he accepted it. Besides, he had read in the village 
newspaper about many men with no more capital than 
five hundred dollars becoming rich within a few years 
in the wonderful city of Chicago. 

Before young Bayle quitted his native village he 
plighted his troth to Judith Bradford, whom he had 
first met at school, where the boys and girls were 
taught together, and with whom he had kept up an 
acquaintance ever since. He promised to return and 
marry her as soon as he could maintain a wife. She 
was three years his junior. He thought that he would 
not be gone longer than two years. He was absent 
for more than double that time. Young men were 
very scarce in the village of Abraxa. A young girl 
who was engaged to be married ceased to attract the 
few eligible young men ; hence, when Ezra Bayle did 
return to fulfill his promise, he found Judith still 
single and delighted to marry him. 

The natives of New England are very shrewd and 
they are fully conscious of this, yet sometimes they fall 
a prey to the spoiler. In the car of the train which 
carried young Bayle to Chicago there were some 
gentlemanly passengers who beguiled the time by 
playing cards. He had never played cards ; his 


152 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


mother told him it was wicked to do so and he had 
never found time to displease her in this respect. A 
lad who is constantly at work between sunrise and 
sunset, with short intervals for meals, has not much 
leisure for mischief. Mr. Bayle was middle-aged be- 
fore he learned the national game of poker y when he 
mastered it so thoroughly and played it with such 
coolness that he was widely known as a player quite 
equal to the late General Schenck. 

On being asked to take a hand at cards by the 
gentlemanly players in the railroad car, he declined and 
said that he never played. His fellow-pa.ssengers were 
playing eucher, a game of which he knew nothing. 
When Lake Michigan came in sight one of them said. 

Let’s stop now. We shall be in Chicago in an hour 
or so.” The others wanted to continue the game. 
The speaker who had taken stock of the company and 
saw that there were more greenhorns in the car than 
young Bayle, said, “ Wall, if you will play, let’s have a 
change. Give me the deck.” He shuffled the cards 
saying, “ I guess you all know how to play mont^.” 

“ No,” his companions said, adding, “We’ve often 
heard tell of it but never saw the game played.” 

He answered, “ It’s not hard to learn. Here goes ! 
You see the backs of them three cards ; one is the Jack ; 
spot the card.” As an on-looker was about to put 
his finger upon the card, the player exclaimed, “ Hold 
on there ! You've not made your bets. You can’t 
play mont6 without betting. The lowest bet is twenty 
dollars.” 

The dollars were laid down ; the card was turned up 
and proved to be the Jack, whereupon the lucky 
guesser had twenty dollars added to his stake. The 
game continued with varying fortunes. The other 
occupants of the car became excited at the ease with 
which some of the- players made money and asked 
permission “ to sail in.” This was granted and several 
of them won also. Young Bayle watched the proceed- 
ings with great interest and a spice of envy. He thought 


A MILLIONAIRE' S RISE IN THE WORLD. 153 

card-playing wrong ; but, as his object was to get rich, 
why should not he profit by this opportunity ? If he 
could merely double his capital he would be satisfied. 

He hesitated, however, till, on closely watching the 
cards, he made a discovery which inspired him with 
confidence. He observed that there was a small black 
speck near the corner of the winning card, and he felt 
certain of winning if he placed his money on the cafd 
bearing the mark. Staking twenty dollars on the 
marked card he won. He repeated the experiment 
and he won again. Never in his life had he dreamed of 
acquiring money so quickly. It now occurred to him 
that, if he went on winning, he would not have to wait 
two years before returning to his native village and 
marrying Judith Bradford. With this view he asked 
whether he might stake a larger sum at a time ? 

The dealer said, “ Wall, sir, though I am mighty 
near broke I don't mind running the risk. Plank down 
fifty or a hundred dollars if you lil^e. Luck may turn 
and I may get back some of my money. But, sir, let 
me tell you that you are the smartest player at mont6 
I have ever seen and I have played this game with the 
best players in the whole United States.” 

Young Bayle felt pleased with the compliment ; he 
returned it by staking a hundred dollars and winning. 
He repeated the stake and lost. He continued to play 
— all the others having ceased — sometimes winning 
and sometimes losing. Counting his money he found 
that he had the original five hundred dollars left ; so 
he resolved to be more cautious ; he staked twenty 
only and he won. Then he staked a hundred and lost. 
After looking carefully for the black speck on the cor- 
ner of the card he staked a hundred and fifty and lost. 
Scrutinizing the cards again he saw that there was a 
black speck on two, but that one speck was more dis- 
tinct than the other. He felt sure that he had mistaken 
the speck before and that he would choose the right 
one this time, and he staked all his capital, except 


154 


A/ISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


twenty dollars, in order that -he might retrieve his 
losses at a stroke. He lost again. 

The dealer then said, “ Excuse me, sir, I must stop 
for a few minutes. We are running into the last sta- 
tion before Chicago and the conductor will be here 
for the tickets. He may not like to see the cards, as 
the company forbids this game being played on the 
cars. We can begin again as soon as he is through.” 

The train stopped and young Bayle and the others 
took their seats while the tickets were collected. After 
giving up his ticket, he looked out of the window as 
the train began to move past the station, and he saw 
the gentlemanly players and some who had staked 
money at monte before he began to do so, dropping in 
succession from the car, which was the rear one. They 
did not depart empty-handed. He never saw his four 
hundred and eighty dollars again. 

Young Bayle left his native village with five hundred 
dollars after paying his railway fare ; he stepped out 
of the train at Chicago with only twenty dollars in his 
pocket. He had been taught that it was wrong to use 
bad language as well as to play at cards ; having 
played at three card monte he gave expression to some 
wicked words. 

Though much poorer than he hoped to be when set- 
ting foot in Chicago, he was richer in two good reso- 
lutions, both of which he scrupulously kept. The one 
was never to play at cards with utter strangers, no 
matter how gentlemanly might be their appearance 
and demeanor, and never to play with any one at three 
card monte. 

Discouraged but not disheartened by his first fail- 
ure to make his fortune, young Bayle wasted no time 
in vain regrets or in attempts which might prove 
equally vain to discover and call to account the gen- 
tlemanly sharpers and their confederates. Years after- 
wards, however, he saw the chief of the gang trying to 
play upon a greenhorn the trick which had been played 
upon himself and he was able to frustrate the nefarious 


A MILLIONAIRE'S RISE IN THE WORLD. 155 

attempt. This was his revenge. It was sweetened by 
the reflection that he had not only hindered the 
sharper from making money but had saved his intended 
victim from losing it. 

He sought employment in Chicago and got it the 
day after his arrival. Willing workers, who could 
turn their hands to any job, never found it difflcult in 
those days to earn a livelihood. He began as a dock 
laborer and made enough to pay for his board and 
lodging and to enable him to put aside a few dollars 
weekly. The loss of his small capital rendered him 
the more anxious to save money. He continued to 
drink water and eat the simplest food and thus he was 
not only able to accumulate a small sum, but his 
efforts to do so kept him out of spendthrift habits. 

Hearing one afternoon that a steward was wanted 
to fill a vacancy which had suddenly occurred on board 
the steamer which sailed that evening for Sault Sainte 
Marie, he applied for and got the berth. He was 
never sick, which was a great advantage, as Lake 
Michigan is as trying to a landsman as the chopping 
waves of the English Channel ; he was always sober, 
and this was as great a recommendation. He retained 
the post till the close of navigation and his employer 
offered to re-engage him at a larger wage the follow- 
ing season. In the winter he was conductor of a 
street car. At the end of two years he had saved a 
sum as great as the original capital with which he 
started from his native village. 

Like all Americans he was anxious to be his own 
“ boss ” or master. This was his first ambition ; he 
believed that, if he obtained such a position of inde- 
pendence, he would soon grow rich. With that object, 
he invested his savings in miscellaneous goods which 
he sold by auction in the evening. Having a loud 
voice and a plausible manner he was a successful auc- 
tioneer. But he found this occupation to be very 
precarious and, at the end of the first year, he had not 
been able to do more than live upon his small profits. 


156 M/SS BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 

He disposed of his stock at a slight loss and looked 
out for something else. 

Mr. George Pullman was then beginning to run 
sleeping cars over different lines of rail and to revolu- 
tionize the system of railway travel in America. One 
of Mr. Pullman’s superintendents came from Abraxa, 
young Bayle’s native village ; the pair had met once 
or twice and, on his mentioning that he was looking 
out for employment, the superintendent offered to 
recommend him to Mr. Pullman. The latter made it 
a point to have trustworthy and sober conductors for 
his sleeping cars and his care in this particular has 
contributed quite as much as the palatial character of 
the cars themselves to render them popular. As each 
conductor had a colored man under him to do the 
drudgery, he was a “ boss ” on a small scale. The 
excellent character which young Bayle got from the 
owner of the steamer in which he had acted as steward 
led to his being engaged by Mr. Pullman. 

As the conductor of a Pullman car young Bayle 
was better off than he had ever been before. He 
liked the employment, especially the journeying from 
place to place. He traveled in succession over vari- 
ous lines of rail ; at one time his car went to St. Louis ; 
at another to Kansas City ; at another it ran between 
Omaha and Denver, and for several months it ran 
between Chicago and New York. Thus he saw many 
notable places in his own country. His pay was good 
and his expenses were small. A uniform which he 
wore when on duty was found for him and he lived for 
the greatest part of the year in the car itself. Hence 
he was able to save money ; the result being that, four 
years after his arrival at Chicago, he had accumulated 
three thousand dollars. This was not a fortune ; but 
it was a fair beginning. It justified him, he thought, 
in returning to his native village, during a few days’ 
holiday which he had obtained, and marrying his first 
love, Judith, Bradford. 

Country folks in New England have a prejudice 


A MILLIONAIRE'S RISE IN THE WORLD. 157 


against living in a hotel or boarding-house after mar- 
riage ; they rightly prefer a home of their own. Mr. 
Bayle and his wife were of this opinion and they took 
for themselves a small house in the suburbs of Chicago, 
not far from the spot where Mr. Pullman has since 
built a town for the accommodation of the many 
workers in his car factory. Mrs. Bayle kept house in 
the fullest signification of the phrase ; not till her 
daughter Alma was born did she hire a servant to help 
her. She had a hard struggle, but she did not com- 
plain ; life in her native village had not been luxurious ; 
indeed, the stern inhabitants of Abraxa might have 
doubted about their fitness for going to heaven if 
they were perfectly comfortable in this world. Besides, 
like other American wives who have had a country 
training, she took her husband for worse asjwell as for 
better, and she did not dream of repining because she 
had to take thought for the morrow and often found 
it difficult to make both ends meet. 

A serious and protracted illness was Mrs. Bayle’s 
severest trial, an illness, too, which rendered her deli- 
cate for the remainder of her life. In those days the 
dwellers in houses at the outskirts of Chicago were 
liable to what is there called “ chills and fever,” and 
what is known in England as “ fever and ague,” the 
malady, indeed, from which Robinson Crusoe suffered 
in his cave. In the city, the prevailing malady was 
rheumatism and many young men were crippled by it. 
Mr. Bayle was a sufferer from rheumatism and the ill- 
ness of his wife and himself cost him a large part of 
his income for nearly two years. 

It was while his car was running over the Washout 
Railway between Kansas City and Chicago that Mr. 
Bayle met the card sharper who eased him of his orig- 
inal capital. The train had not long started and he 
felt sure this man had entered the Pullman car from 
one of the ordinary ones in front of it, as he was not 
on the list of those who had paid for seats in the 
sleeper. He said nothing, but he carefully watched 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


158 

him. Before long the passenger proposed to play at 
three card monte, and some of the other passengers 
professed their readiness to join in it. Then Mr. Bayle 
asked him for his ticket. The sharper replied, “You 
shall have it presently. I am only showing these gen- 
tlemen some tricks at cards.” 

“ None of your tricks here,” replied Mr. Bayle, add- 
ing, “ I have seen too many of them. Clear out right 
away.” 

He left the car, Mr. Bayle following him. He told 
the conductor of the train to ask if he had a ticket for 
an ordinary car and said that he knew him to be a 
card-sharper. The man had no ticket, but he offered 
to pay. The conductor exercising, or rather stretch- 
ing, his right refused to take payment, alleging that 
the company wished to put down card-sharping on 
board the trains. He stopped the train to put the man 
olf, when some of the passengers remonstrated. Mr. 
Bayle told them his personal experience in a few sen- 
tences. They then said, “ Fire him out,” and the 
sharper was left at the side of the line to find his way 
on foot. 

A short keen-eyed man who watched the proceed- 
ings without opening his lips now entered into conver- 
sation with Mr. Bayle and expressed his satisfaction 
with what had been done, and told him, “ 1 am presi- 
dent of this road and I am glad to see how well you 
and the conductor of the train have done the right 
thing in this matter.” 

“What, sir, are you Mr. Jay Gould? I am very 
pleased to make your acquaintance.” And the presi- 
dent and conductor shook hands. Mr. Bayle went on 
to give Mr. Jay Gould good advice, saying, “ If I was 
you, sir, I would advertise this road. It is not half 
enough talked about. The Chicago and Alton is more 
patronized because it is better kept before the public.” 

“ I have been thinking about doing what you sug- 
gest.” 

“Well, sir, you can’t do it better than by cutting 


A MILLIONAIRESS RISE IN THE WORLD. 159 


the rates. Carry people cheaper than has ever been 
done in this section and the Washout will be talked 
about everywhere.” 

“Your idea is not a bad one. I will see what can 
be done.” 

The result was the breaking out of a railroad war in 
which the Washout Company was the aggressor, and 
during which passengers were carried between Kan- 
sas City and Chicago for two dollars instead of eleven. 
When the ruinous competition ended, the Washout 
had conquered the respect of its rivals and obtained a 
notoriety by which its president and his friends are 
supposed to have profited more than the British pub- 
lic. Indeed, many a British investor has reason to 
remember with sorrow the day upon which he sub- 
scribed for its bonds. 

Mr. Jay Gould did not forget his meeting with Mr. 
Bayle. He made inquiries about him and learned that 
his character was above suspicion and that his services 
were so highly valued by his employers that they had 
offered him a more important situation and a far larger 
salary. He declined the flattering offer in favor of 
one made by Mr. Jay Gould. The latter required an 
agent in the West who would act for him in a confi- 
dential capacity. Mr. Bayle readily consented to fill 
that office. 

Millionaires have a deep-rooted aversion to parting 
with their money ; neither do they care to pay high 
salaries to their servants. Plutocrats resemble aristo- 
crats in thinking that every one ought to esteem it an 
honor to be in their service. The confidential servant 
of a plutocrat in America and England has a distinct 
advantage by which it is easy to profit. A hint from 
his employer, or the mere knowledge of his employer’s 
speculative operations may enable him to realize a for- 
tune. Mr. Bayle was shrewd enough to understand 
this and he won Mr. Jay Gould’s heart by asking him 
for a very small salary. He faithfully served his 
employer and fully merited his confidence. His 


l6o MISS BAYLE'S JiOMANCE. 

reward did not tarry. By turning to account the 
special inforrnation at his disposal he acquired fifty 
thousand dollars the first year that he acted for Mr. 
Jay Gould. Thereafter he became his associate rather 
than his agent, till his wealth, coupled with his finan- 
cial skill and success, raised him to the doubtful dig- 
nity of a rival. 

At the outset, Mr. Bayle speculated in every thing ; 
in the end he confined himself to railways, which are 
the “ three card monte ” of American millionaires. 
When he bought or sold wheat and hogs, cattle and 
corn, he was distinguished by his nerve as much as by 
his sagacity. He faced any risk without flinching. 
Boldness is half the battle in speculation. The timid 
speculator not only lacks pluck, but he generally courts 
ruin by being reckless when he ought to be cautious, 
and cautious when he ought to be bold, buying too 
soon and selling too late. 

A single stroke made Mr. Bayle a “ poor rich 
man ” : he became at once a millionaire and miserable. 
He had watched the Washout Railway with a natural 
interest. He knew its secrets and he had early infor- 
mation of the endeavors to persuade the British cap- 
italist to believe that it was a sound investment. In 
view of the British capitalist repeating the blunder 
which has caused the transfer of so much money from 
Great Britain to America, Mr. Bayle acquired a large 
quantity of Washout so-called securities and he did so 
when they were at a low price. Credulous British 
capitalists gradually bought them at a very high one 
and the difference was represented by a profit to Mr. 
Bayle of five million dollars. 

This was his first great hit. The second one excited 
the envy of his brother millionaires. Neither the late 
Mr. Vanderbilt, nor even Mr. Jay Gould, had done 
any thing so “ smart ” and so profitable. It was to 
complete this transaction that he remained behind 
when his wife and daughter sailed for Europe. 

Mr. Bayle had carefully investigated the formation 


A MILLIONAIRE'S RISE IN THE WORLD. i6i 

of the Washout Railway, and learned how the original 
part was a short line to which a cluster of other short 
ones had been added until the whole formed a Grand 
Trunk Railway which seemed to communicate with 
every city of note in the Union. He resolved to repeat 
the operation upon a new and improved basis. In 
concert with an engineer who was skilled in construct- 
ing railways upon paper, he planned a railway which 
was to run from Lake Erie to the city of Mexico and 
which was to be as bold and great an undertaking 
athwart the continent as the Pacific Railways were 
across it. It was called the Silver Gilt Road. Para- 
graphs in the papers heralded its beginning. It was 
commented upon as a daring and most praiseworthy 
enterprise which would open up a new district in Mex- 
ico and practically annex it to the United States. 

The line was begun at either end on the same day 
and at the same second. Mr. Bayle superintended 
the ceremony as well as played the principal part in it 
at BuTalo, while his companion was understood to act 
in concert with him at the other end ; at least a long 
descriptive telegram from Mexico led people to sup- 
pose this. At each end, the first rail was affixed to the 
first tie or sleeper by a silver gilt spike. This spike 
was said to have been formed of virgin silver and to 
weigh nearly ten ounces. In order that there should 
be no ground for skepticism as to the good faith of all 
concerned, an engraved fac-simile of it was reproduced 
at Mr. Bayle’s expense in the obscure newspapers 
which contained the longest and most eulogistic re- 
ports of the proceedings. Within twelve months it 
was announced that a long section of the Silver Gilt 
Road was ready for traffic. A magnificent car started 
from Buffalo and reached the Texan town Brownsville 
on the Mexican frontier ; but how it got there was 
never clearly explained. Advertisements appeared 
everywhere setting forth the attractions of the Silver 
Gik(Road and through tickets from Buffalo to Texas 
were offered at very low prices. Maps showed the 


i 62 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


district through which the railway ran and, judging 
from them, it appeared to be a formidable competitor 
to existing trunk lines. It was also announced that 
goods would be carried over it at half the rates which 
had been charged by other railway companies. 

The Silver Gilt Road became the talk of Wall Street. 
Though no shares had been issued, dealings were 
effected in anticipation of their being offered to the 
public. Buyers unexpectedly appeared who were 
ready to pay a premium for non-existing shares. The 
public followed suit, as usually happens in such cases, 
and applications for large numbers of shares were re- 
ceived at the company’s office. 

The presidents of the existing trunk lines became 
alarmed at the prospect of a serious competitor. They 
formed a syndicate which entered into negotiation with 
Mr. Bayle to buy up as much of the line as was finished 
and all the branches and franchises which he might 
have acquired. The syndicate also bargained for ob- 
taining all the subscriptions which had been paid in 
view of shares or bonds being issued. After a long 
negotiation the price was agreed upon and the sum 
was paid in cash. The amount was six million dol- 
lars. Out of this Mr. Bayle paid his friend, the engi- 
neer, contractor and advertiser, one million. The 
Members Syndicate acquired: First, a handsome palace 
car almost new ; second, a set of drawings in good 
condition ; third, the two silver gilt spikes which had 
been used, but had not been left behind when the first 
ties were laid at Buffalo and elsewhere ; and fourth, 
the right to complete the railway at their own cost, as 
all subscriptions for shares had mysteriously disap- 
peared. This was Mr. Bayle’s “big strike.” The 
day after receiving the money, which raised his capital 
to ten million dollars, he sailed for Queenstown in the 
Aurania. 

Mr. Bayle was barely forty-six when he crossed the 
Atlantic for the first time, yet he looked twenty years 
older. His hair was as white as snow ; his face was 


A MILLIONAIRE'S RISE IN THE WORLD. 163 

careworn. He suffered from what he persisted in con- 
sidering a severe attack of rheumatism. His right leg 
was affected and he was obliged to use a stick when 
walking. His medical adviser did not undeceive him 
and say that he really suffered from a slight attack of 
paralysis. The attack was one which time and com- 
plete rest might cure, so that the doctor hoped the 
change, coupled with abstinence from worry and ex- 
citement, might prove effectual as a remedy. 

The friends who came to give him what in America 
is called “ a good send off,” regarded him with admi- 
ration and envy. “There goes the smartest man on 
this continent,” was the remark of one. “ Guess you 
are right,” was the response of the others. Though 
he might have been less of a hero in the estimation of 
his friends, Mr. Bayle would have been a happier man 
with fewer millions and sounder health. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


THE MILLIONAIRE IN LONDON. 

A PARAGRAPH in The Morning Post informed the 
fashionable world of London that Mr. Ezra P. 
Bayle, the notable American millionaire and banker, 
had arrived at the Hotel M^tropole. He had taken 
his wife’s hint and described himself as a banker ; but 
he did not understand, till some time after being in 
England, how much this added to his respectability. 
It is a prevailing English superstition that a banker is 
a public benefactor and as such is a fit and proper per- 
son to be returned to the House of Commons or ele- 
vated to the House of Lords. 

Mr. Bayle was disappointed that his arrival passed 
unheeded by the newspaper reporters. Some Amer- 
icans dislike interviewing. General Butler once said 
in his own emphatic style, that “ of all the nuisances 
God Almighty had created the interviewing reporter 
was the greatest,” yet many Americans find the inter- 
viewer a most useful personage. Mr. Bayle had often 
profited by his services. Speculators such as he can 
turn an interview to profitable account, and he had 
become so accustomed to meet several reporters at 
every place of importance he visited in America that 
he was both mortified and surprised, to use his own 
phrase, “ to be left severely alone” in London. He 
did not then know that the conductors of the princi- 
pal London morning papers have more important 
things to attend to than the opinions on things in gen- 
eral of a passing stranger, and that they do not regard 
a millionaire as a fountain of universal knowledge. 

He was very glad, however, to have arrived at his 


THE MILLIONAIRE IN LONDON. 165 

journey’s end for the time being and to meet his wife 
and daughter again. 

“Well, Judy,” he said to his wife in his heartiest 
manner, “ do you still like Europe as well as you told 
me you did in your last letter ? Certainly it seems to 
have agreed with you as you look ten years younger.” 

The concluding clause of his remark gave his wife 
the gratification which all wives experience when com- 
plimented in such a fashion by their husbands after 
twenty years of married life. It was not with unusual 
ceremony, but in accordance with her habit when 
addressing or speaking of her husband that she 
replied, “ I guess it’s not a bad place, Mr. Bayle, 
though the ways of the people are peculiar. They do 
many things differently here from what I have been 
used to, but I understand the people better now and 
find them good folks on the whole. I guess they mean 
well.” 

“ And, Alma,” he continued, without vulgarizing 
her name into Almy as his wife did in imitation, per- 
haps, of those who speak of “ Philadelphy ” and “ Cali- 
forny,” “ Are you still having a good time ? ” 

“ First-class, father. I have found the people very 
kind and some are real nice. The English in real life 
are not at all like what they are in our papers and 
books.” 

“ How did you like Ireland, Mr. Bayle ? ” was his 
wife’s question. 

“Well, Judy, I did not stay long enough to form 
any opinion of the country ; yet I was not favorably 
impressed by the people on landing at Queenstown. 
I was surrounded by a crowd pressing me to buy lace 
or apples or walking sticks. I bought a few dollars’ 
worth of lace which I have got in my valise. The 
woman who sold it called down all sorts of blessings 
on my head, wishing that the heavens might be my 
bed. The others from whom I didn’t buy any thing 
yelled after me that I was ‘ an ould spalpeen,’ which 
I suppose is something very wicked, and hoped that I 


i66 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


might go to a hotter place than Texas or Arizona. 
However, as I have nothing else to do, let us begin 
sight-seeing. Go to your rooms and fix yourselves, 
and then we will start for the prominent places. I 
guess the Tower of London is the one every stranger 
sees first.” 

The ladies said they had refrained from going there 
till his arrival and then, in obedience to his wishes, 
they proceeded to “ fix themselves.” 

Just as they had re-assembled in their sitting-room 
previous to going out, Lord Plowden Eton was an- 
nounced by the waiter. He said on entering that he 
had called to inquire whether Mr. Bayle had arrived, 
and added that he saw it was unnecessary to expect 
an answer. Thereupon Mrs. Bayle introduced her 
husband to him saying, as she did so, “ Mr. Bayle, 
this is the gentleman who has been so attentive to 
Almy and me. I am sure you will be pleased to make 
his acquaintance.” 

Holding p>ut his hand to Lord Plowden, he said, 
“ I am indeed pleased to make your acquaintance, sir. 
My wife has often mentioned you in her letters and 
always with praise. Allow me to thank you, sir, for 
all your great courtesy to my wife and daughter. I 
shall not forget your kindness.” This was said simply 
yet cordially. Though Mr. Bayle’s training had not 
been that of a Chesterfield, no one, though a master 
of “ The Graces,” could have spoken in better taste 
or with greater geniality. It is not known so gener- 
ally as it ought to be that the imported citizens are 
generally the Americans whose vulgarity is so offen- 
sive, while the native born Americans seem to have a 
natural good-breeding which is always pleasing and 
praiseworthy. Lord Plowden, though the son of a 
duke and gentlemanly in all his ways, was unprepared, 
like most Englishmen in his situation, with a fitting 
answer to Mr. Bayle’s complimentary speech, so he 
merely looked confused and grateful, stammered out 
something about the pleasure he had in serving the 


THE MILLIONAIRE IN LONDON. 167 

ladies, then he diverted the conversation by saying, 
“ My mother has commissioned me to say, Mrs. Bayle, 
that she will be glad to call upon you, and hopes to 
do so to-morrow.” 

“We shall be delighted to see the duchess,” was 
Mrs. Bayle’s reply, while Mr. Bayle felt some curiosi- 
ty at the prospect of meeting an English duchess ; he 
had never even seen a member of the English aristoc- 
racy till he saw Lord Plowden and it seemed to him 
that he resembled other young men of his age. Lord 
Plowden asked what their plans were. Hearing they 
were bound for the Tower in the first place, he said 
he would gladly accompany them, not in the capacity 
of a guide because he had not been there since he was 
taken by his nurse, but because he should like to visit 
it again. Before calling, he had not contemplated 
going to the Tower that day. 

The sight of the Tower had the effect upon these 
Americans that it has upon Americans whose cultiva- 
tion had been neglected. They could notVealize why 
so much fuss had been made about a place which was 
not remarkable in their eyes. They were unacquaint- 
ed with the archaeological and historical associations 
which cling to the walls of the Tower and render it a 
place of perennial interest to the intelligent student 
of history. Miss Bayle remembered the picture of the 
Tower given in “The Fortunes of Nigel,” and she knew 
that Sir Walter Raleigh wrote his “ History of the 
World” during his imprisonment there and that Lady 
J ane Grey had been beheaded. Though her knowledge 
of history was very limited and superficial, it was much 
wider than that of her parents. Lord Plowden did 
not join in the conversation, as his ideas of historical 
events were rather hazy,and as he was better acquainted 
with the Raleigh Club than with Sir Walter’s writings. 

The Crown Jewels excited the ladies’ admiration. 
They could appreciate them without any historical 
training. Mrs. Bayle was especially enthusiastic. 


1 68 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

“ Oh my, ain’t these just lovely ! ” was her exclamation 
of delight. 

“ You bet ! ” was the response of her husband. He 
knew that his wife’s weakness was for jewelry and he 
was not exempt from it himself. The largest diamond 
studs that money can buy are to be seen on the shirt 
fronts of Western capitalists and the most massive 
diamond rings on the fingers of their wives. 

When Lord Plowden and Mr. Wentworth first saw 
Mrs. Bayle at Monte Carlo the diamonds which she 
wore rendered her a conspicuous object ; indeed she 
was then regarded with wonder wherever she went. 
The subject of wearing diamonds during the day and 
wearing too many at any time was the one about which 
Lord Plowden had the most discussions with Miss 
Bayle in the early days of their acquaintance. She 
could not understand what he meant by calling it bad 
form, till she perceived that her mother was an excep- 
tion, and that it was not the custom in Europe for 
ladies to appear at breakfast or dinner glittering with 
precious stones. Mrs. Bayle yielded to her daughter’s 
remonstrance and laid aside many of her diamonds, 
among them being the large ring which used to sparkle 
on the forefinger of her right hand. Mr. Bayle remarked 
the change in his wife and was surprised ; when told 
the reason he acquiesced ; both parents submitted 
gracefully to the fancies of their daughter. 

“ Father,” she said, as they were leaving the Tower, 
“ Lord Plowden tells me this is a fine day for seeing 
Greenwich, where I have heard there is an elegant 
hospital and where people eat whitebait. I should so 
love to eat whitebait there. We’ve had it at the 
hotel, but every one says it tastes far better at Green- 
wich.” 

“ Just as you please, Alma. Can we drive to Green- 
wich in the carriage?” 

“ You can,” answered Lord Plowden, “ but the pleas- 
antest way is to go in a steamer. You will form some 
idea of the river and the shipping in that way.” 


THE MILLIONAIRE IN LONDON. 169 

The carriage was sent back to the hotel, and the 
party took a steamer at the Tower pier. 

The day was one of those exquisite June, days when 
London looks its best, when even the Thames below 
London Bridge has not the aspect of liquid mud, when 
the sun is hot enough to be pleasant, when the air, 
though less soft and scented than that which blows 
over Ceylon, is not surcharged with smoke as in the 
autumn and winter months, and when the sky, though 
not intensely blue, is unflecked with a cloud and is a 
delight to the eye. It was too early in the day for the 
saloon steamer Alexandra to be overcrowded, so that 
the trip was made under the most favorable condi- 
tions.* 

“ This looks like business,” exclaimed Mr. Bayle, as 
he gazed upon the vista of masts stretching far inland, 
and the crowd of large and small craft which rendered 
navigation difficult. “ Now I have some idea of your 
English commerce,” he continued, addressing Lord 
Plowden, “ we can make a good showing of vessels at 
New York, but this beats it hollow.” 

The view of Greenwich Hospital from the river and 
the slopes behind it pleased all the party. The inte- 
rior of the hospital impressed them more than the 
Tower ; they liked the spacious rooms, the large paint- 
ings, and the relics of Nelson reminded them of those 
of the father of their country preserved at Washing- 
ton. About Nelson himself, the hero of Trafalgar, 
they knew and cared as little as the average American. 
If examined about him they would have displayed an 
ignorance as great as the average Englishman would 
display about Admiral Perry, the hero of Lake Erie. 

Taking a carriage they drove for two hours through 
Greenwich Park and returned for an early dinner at 
the Trafalgar. Mr. Bayle was in good spirits, having 
thoroughly enjoyed the change ; his daughter admired 
and was pleased with every thing chiefly because her 
father seemed so happy ; his wife assented with her 
wonted complacency to all her daughter’s enthusiastic 


170 


MISS BA YLE’S BOMANCE. % 

and sincere comments upon the beauty of English 
parks. 

They enjoyed their dinner, though Mr. Bayle could 
not help noting that he had eaten quite as good a fish 
dinner at Taft’s at Point Shirley during his last visit 
to Boston. Lord Plowden could not dispute this, as 
he had never even heard of Point Shirley. He felt, 
moreover, slightly uncomfortable. His experience of 
a dinner at Greenwich was that eating fish seemed an 
excuse for drinking wine, and he did not enjoy taking 
wine alone, as the others preferred water. The waiter 
w.as astonished ct the rare sight. Miss Bayle took 
pity on Lord Plowden and offered to keep him com- 
pany in a glass of champagne, and he felt more ’grate- ^ 
ful to her than he cared to display. If Mr. Bayle’s 
favorite beverage was water, he was no ascetic in the 
matter of tobacco, so in smoking he was able to join 
Lord Plowden. Indeed he gave him a choice cigar, 
one out of a box upon which he paid duty on landing 
at Queenstown. Each of them had cost him a dollar. 
Lord Plowden thought it very strong for the price, not 
knowing that American smokers complain about the 
cigars bought in England being wanting in flavor and 
strength. The party drove back to town. On the way 
Mr. Bayle plied Lord Plowden with such questions as, 

“ Tell me, sir, where does your city begin or leave off ? 

I can’t get the hang of it no how.” 

“I really can not tell you the exact size, Mr. Bayle; 
but I understand there are nearly five millions of peo- 
ple in London.” 

“ So I had read, but I didn’t quite believe it. Now 
I can believe almost any thing.” 

Had Mr. Bayle visited London as a total stranger to 
every one there he might have felt dull despite his wealth. 

To the friendless visitor the capital of England is no 
more inviting than any American city. Even Paris, 
though abounding in what the French call ‘‘ distrac- 
tions,” does not fascinate the mere stranger quite so 
much as the Parisians believe. But when a rich man ^ 


THE MILLIONAIRE IN LONDON. 171 

visits London with the way prepared for him, as was 
the case with Mr. Bayle, he immediately enters what 
lady novelists style “ the vortex ” of fashionable life. 

Before Mr. Bayle had been a week at the Hotel 
Metropole, invitations to luncheon and dinner came 
upon him like a flood. Every body he met seemed 
anxious to entertain him. Being a rich man with an 
impaired digestion, he was sumptuously feasted day 
after day. Had he been a poor one with a good appe- 
tite he might have gone supperless to bed. As it was, 
his main difficulty was to select the people whom he 
could favor with his company. 

His fir.st introduction into fashionable society was at 
the Duke of Windsor’s in St. James’s Square. The 
Morning Post announced that Mr. and Mrs. Bayle and 
Miss Bayle were present at a grand dinner there which 
was followed by a reception. Neither the duke nor 
the duchess was in the habit of hunting after and en- 
tertaining the lions of the season, so the strangers who 
were welcomed to their table were at once recognized 
as being eligible for admittance everywhere. Thus it 
was that the Bayle family became the great attraction 
of the season which was nearing its close, and Miss 
Bayle became celebrated as a new American beauty. 
When it was stated that she was the only child of a 
banker who was worth many millions, the anxiety to 
see and know her grew feverish. 

A paragraph in The World communicated the fol- 
lowing piece of fashionable news to the men and 
women for whose edification that lively and successful 
journal is conducted : “ Miss Alma Judith Bayle, 
the new American beauty, is the sensation of the pres- 
ent -London season. Like Miss Chamberlain she 
hails from the West. Like her, too, she is a formid- 
able competitor to such beautiful Americans as Lady 
Mandeville, Lady Harcourt, Lady Lyon Playfair and 
Lady Randolph Churchill, who are among the leaders 
and ornaments of our society. Exporting landless 
Irish patriots and importing rich and beautiful Ameri- 


172 


M/SS BA YLE^S ROMANCE. 


cans is a form of fair trade which must commend 
itself even to Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone. Miss 
Bayle is very clever as well as charming ; her quaint 
speeches are worthy of Mark Twain. Being both a 
great heiress and a beauty, she may be said to present 
an unrivaled combination of Excellences. Her 
mother is a practical as well as an amiable lady. At a 
dinner at the Duke of Windsor’s she outshone all the 
duchesses with her diamonds. Being complimented 
upon their splendor, she said they ought to be fine as 
they had cost half a million dollars. Mr. Bayle is on a 
visit to Europe for the sake of his health. He is ‘ as 
meek and mild a mannered man, ’as ever made a fortune 
in the Far West. His countrymen are naturally proud 
of him on account of his unrivaled ‘ smartness.’ I 
hear that the leading Americans in London propose 
testifying their admiration by entertaining him at din- 
ner.” This paragraph was read with pleasure by the 
Bayles ; they heartily enjoyed seeing their names in 
print and they felt grateful to the accomplished writer 
of it. 

They did not like the paragraph in Truth which 
appeared the following week : “ I am no match for 
you, Edmund, in sarcastic compliments, nor am I 
quite so susceptible as you are to the charms of pretty 
Americans. The Bayle family may be good enough 
in their way : but as for the father’s ‘ smartness ’ it is 
not the virtue which I admire. I invested some of my 
hard earned savings in Washout shares,with the result 
of losing my money and helping to enrich this man, 
Bayle. If you had suggested that Mr. Chamberlain’s 
admirable doctrine of ‘ ransom ’ should be applied to 
this American capitalist I should have agreed with 
you and contributed my mite toward the expense of 
putting him upon the rack till he disgorged. I admire 
the Americans, but I think they are foolishly merciful 
to murderers and millionaires.” 

The paragraphs in The JVor/d and Truth had the 
effect of calling public attention to the Bayle family ; 


THE MILLIONAIRE IN LONDON. 


173 


the London correspondents of country papers retailed 
anecdotes of them, while the correspondents of 
American papers wrote about them at far greater 
length. Some of them called upon and interviewed 
Mr. Bayle much to his satisfaction. The visiting list 
and fame of the Bayles increased daily 

The curiosity to see them increased also. Miss 
Bayle fulfilled the expectations of the most exacting ; 
she was as attractive in person and original in speech 
as any one could have desired. Mr. Bayle impressed 
many persons by his remarkable resemblance to M. de 
Freycinet, the French statesman. In height and 
figure the two could with difficulty be distinguished, the 
chief difference being that Mr. Bayle had not the 
springy gait of M. de Freycinet, having to support him- 
self on a ^tick when limping into or about a room. 
To look at him he seemed as incapable as Mr. Labou- 
chere himself of robbing- the widow and the orphan. 
His benevolent aspect gave one the impression that 
he would easily fall a prey to the begging-letter im- 
postors. Yet there were few men with whom beggars’ 
found it so difficult to deal. 

Mr. Bayle was quiet in manner and measured in 
speech ; he seemed as reluctant to waste words as 
money. He knew perfectly well, however, how to 
make himself understood and he was an adept in dis- 
cerning the character and thoughts of others. He 
was imperturbable even under provocation ; he kept 
his temper as if it were so much treasure. Having a 
cool as well as a clear head, he was never taken at un- 
awares. In general conversation he was content to 
be a listener, excepting when some topic was broached 
which interested him and then he put questions in suc- 
cession till he had acquired the desired information. 
Sometimes his gravity relaxed and he told stories with 
effect and gusto ; but in general he gave the impres- 
sion of either having nothing to say or else of not 
choosing to say what he knew. In London society 
his retiring disposition rendered him a favorite. He 


174 


MISS BA YLKS ROMANCE. 


was always spoken of as a polished ^and most gentle- 
manly man. 

Mrs. Bayle, as has been said already, was quiet 
also ; but she, too, would sometimes become very con- 
versational. Unfortunately, her talk was utterly un- 
interesting. Her tribulations as a housekeeper were 
unappreciated in the Duke of Windsor’s drawing- 
room. She used to surprise and shock formal ladies, 
who had never turned their hands to any thing useful, 
by saying that she was far happier when she lived 
alone with her husband in a very small house doing 
all the work herself, than when she had a large house 
“ on ” Michigan Avenue with many servants at her 
command. 

Though the Duchess of Windsor disliked American 
ladies, she was exceedingly gracious to Mrs. Bayle. 
This was to please her sister, the Countess de Flau- 
bard, who had written and asked her to help in secur- 
ing the American heiress for young Count Louis. 
With this object in view the duchess displayed the 
heroism of a martyr in submitting to be bored. She 
exerted herself with the feminine tact which duch- 
esses possess in common with other women to picture 
the advantages of any alliance with the Flaubard family, 
assuming that Mrs. Bayle, like many other Americans,, 
had a blind attachment to France and the French. 
Mrs. Bayle honestly avowed her dislike for the Flau- 
bards, and she said, moreover, that her husband had 
always disliked the French. This was early prejudice, 
no doubt, yet the jealousy toward France which pre- 
vailed in the old colonial days may perhaps have still 
lingered in a remote New England village like Abraxa 
when Mr. Bayle and his wife were born. The duchess, 
finding the topic an uncongenial one, allowed it to 
drop. She trusted to longer acquaintance with France, 
and better knowledge of the French, bringing about a 
change which her own persuasion and influence had 
failed to effect. 

The duchess much preferred Miss Bayle to her 


THE MILLIONAIRE IN LONDON. 175 

mother ; indeed, the lovely American heiress became 
a general favorite. She was a fine specimen of a true 
Western girl when seen at her best. She made herself 
at home wherever she went and the most critical could 
only object to her on the ground that she was uncon- 
ventional, an objection which was indirect praise. It 
was her great merit to be perfectly frank and easy 
without displaying a trace of rudeness or affectation. 
A New York “ society lady ” would have been far more 
stiff ; a Boston one would have been always dreading 
being guilty of a breach of etiquette ; a southern lady 
would have been too languidly indifferent ; a Califor- 
nian one would have been too self-asserting. Old and 
young admired Miss Bayle and many were dying to 
marry her. When they hinted marriage to her she 
laughingly remarked, “ Guess I’m in no hurry. I 
mean to have a real good time first ; besides, as I’m 
not a Mormon I can’t marry every body who wants 
me. 

A woman can adapt herself to circumstances much 
better and quicker than a man. But Mr. Bayle was 
an exceptional man and he got on in society nearly as 
well as his daughter. Doubtless his wealth was in his 
favor. Much is pardoned to him who is enormously 
rich. If the millionaire’s fate be hard and unenviable 
in a future life, his path is very smooth and rosy in 
this world. His money does not melt here. It is a 
substantial and available possession. A millionaire, 
like the poorest peer, is even permitted to be 
eccentric to the verge of insanity without incurring 
serious reproach. Before Moses brought the Tables 
of the Law down from Mount Sinai, the Israelites 
formed a molten calf out of their golden ornaments, 
and fell down and worshijfired it. Society in America 
and Europe tacitly accepts the obligations of the Ten 
Commandments, yet gladly reverences golden calves. 

Mr. Bayle’s American ideas and training stood him 
in good stead when he associated with the great people 
who constitute the highest circle in England. An 


176 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


average Englishman who had lived Mr. Bayle’s life 
and acquired his fortune would not have acted like 
him. The Englishman would have thought it con- 
descending in the Duke of Windsor treating him on a 
footing of equality. Mr. Bayle, on the other hand, 
took this as a matter of course. He regarded the 
duke simply as a man like himself, and, though it may 
seem to some persons a revolutionary and leveling 
statement, it is literally true that the greatest English 
duke is but a man after all. 

Some of Mr. Bayle’s countrymen are prone to a 
course of conduct quite as absurd and reprehensible 
as that which causes a great English nobleman to be 
treated by his countrymen as a demi-god. They are 
too apt to disparage and despise a man of rank be- 
cause he has been born to a high station and this is 
represented by the expression which, though falling 
from Irish lips, is less contradictory than it seems, that 
“ one man’s as good as another and better too.” The. 
person who acts upon this sentiment thinks himself, 3 b 
a man, better than any other man, and, whether he be 
an English peer or a simple American citizen, he is at 
heart a snob. 


CHAPTER XX. 


THE DUKE OF WINDSOR. 

T he Duke of Windsor was a peer with whom any 
sensible man could get on and feel at ease, because 
he possessed great common-sense as well as remark- 
able capacity. In early life he had. traveled in America 
and learned many things there which stood him in 
good stead afterward. He had many valid reasons 
for liking America : an investment which he made 
during his visit to the Far West yielded him several 
thousands of these reasons annually. 

Nations that pay their debts with perfect regularity 
are certain to have many staunch friends in the nation 
which has lent them money. When Turkey suspended 
paying the interest on her debt, the integrity and inde- 
pendence of the Ottoman Empire ceased to be para- 
mount objects in the opinion of many Englishmen. 
If the Duke of Windsor had been less fortunate as an 
investor, he might have been a harsh and unjust critic 
of America and the Americans. As it was, he de- 
fended both when they were attacked by peers and 
commoners more ignorant or less fortunate than him- 
^If. When his son asked permission to introduce 
Mr. Bayle to him he granted it the more readily be- 
cause Mr. Bayle was a citizen of Chicago. The duke’s 
profitable venture had been made in “ The Queen City 
of the Lakes ” when he and it were young. 

The principal banker at Chicago when the duke, 
then the Marquess of Slough, visited it during a hunt- 
ing tour in the Far West, was Mr. Columbus Smith. 
He had left Scotland when a lad ; had tried farming 
and got tired of it ; had speculated in land out West 
and made a little money, and had finally settled in 


178 


MISS BA YLE’S ROMANCE. 


Chicago where he founded a land office and bank. 
He was an ardent believer in the city’s future and his 
belief was justified by events. He was pleased to 
receive the eldest son of a great English duke, having 
retained his boyish respect for dignities, so he showed 
the Marquess of Slough all possible attention and gave 
him the best advice in his power. 

A financial crisis prevailed in Chicago at the time. 
There had been over-speculation in land ; the buyers 
could not meet their liabilities and the sellers had to 
accept any terms offered to them. Mr. Smith invested 
largely when prices were at their lowest ; but he dared 
not lock up more than a small proportion of his capital. 
One day when the marquess dined with him at his 
country house near Chicago, Mr. Smith expressed his 
regret not to be able to buy more land, and his belief 
that, whoever did so, would reap an enormous profit in 
a few years’ time. He gave his reason which appeared 
valid. The marquess had made many inquiries about 
him and always found the reply couched in some such 
terms as “ You may trust Columbus, sir, he is the 
discoverer of our West as the Eldorado for capitalists. 
He is about the only honest man in this section,” the 
speaker saying this so as to imply that he was another. 
Westerners like to be esteemed for their honesty as 
well as their ‘‘ smartness,” just as they like it to be 
supposed that a rigid adherence to truth is their dis- 
tinguishing virtue. 

The Marquess of Slough, having resolved to trust 
Mr. Smith implicitly and to follow his advice unhesi- 
tatingly, arranged with him to invest five thousand 
pounds in city lots. Among other purchases were 
some “ floating claims ” which he obtained for a trifle. 
These were claims to pieces of land to complete an 
amount bought from the government. It was found 
that some lots which had been sold and paid for were 
incomplete, inasmuch as parts of them were comprised 
in the river and lake. To give compensation for this, 
scrip was issued representing claims to a correspond- 


THE DUKE OF WINDSOR. 


179 


ing extent of land in the unsurveyed portion around 
the city. Some of these odd pieces became of 
immense value in the course of time, owing to the city’s 
rapid growth. 

Mr. Columbus Smith undertook to act as the Mar- 
quess of Slough’s agent. At his advice the marquess 
soon sold a small part of the land, which brought far 
mor£ than the original investment. The Michigan 
Central Railway required this part for an extension of 
the company’s station. He built offices on the lots 
in the heart of the city. The great fire swe'pt away the 
buildings, and the marquess, who had then succeeded 
to the dukedom, found that the half-yearly remittances 
from Chicago would cease altogether, unless he re- 
built the offices on a grander scale. He could not 
afford to do so immediately. In consequence of the 
delay he was able to erect them at a lower price, as the 
cost of materials and labor, which was very high after 
the fire, fell enormously when the greater part of the 
city had been rebuilt. Moreover a change took place . 
in the business quarter with the result that the duke’s 
property increased in value. His income from this 
property had grown till he annually received fifty 
thousand dollars or ten thousand pounds sterling for 
a total outlay of the like amount. His original invest- 
ment of five thousand pounds had long before been 
returned to him by the sale of a small piece of land. 
He was now in the receipt of ten thousand golden 
reasons annually for liking America in general and 
Chicago in particular. 

The fact of the duke being an owner of real estate 
in Chicago made him the more congenial to Mr. Bayle. 
They found at the outset that they ha^ something in 
common, and a common interest or pursuit sometimes 
forms a bond of union between honest men as well as 
rogues. The only difficulty Mr. Bayle felt was in the 
matter of addressing the duke. He was particular as 
to questions of etiquette ; he had learned when con- 
ductor of a Pullman car to give full titles to the per- 


i8o MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

sons with whom he came in contact. He know that a 
good rule to follow was to be liberal with the title of 
general or judge ; those who had no right to either 
designation, and they formed the majority, being the 
best pleased to have it conferred upon them. Now 
Mr. Bayle found it easy enough to say duke or lord, 
but he did not find it equally easy to use “Your 
Grace” or “Your Lordship” in the proper places. 
He remarked to the duke, “ I trust you will not be 
offended if I do not address you with proper formality ; 
the fact is I have not yet understood your English 
custom in this respect.” 

“ Pray, Mr. Bayle,” was the reply, “ do not concern 
yourself about that matter. When I was in America 
I often wished that I had no title or that it was not 
known that I had one. I used to be tired of answer- 
ing the questions your countrymen put to me during 
my Western trip. They were always wanting me to 
explain what a marquess was ; whether he was a lord, 
or if not, what was the difference between one peer 
and another, and though I did my best, I doubt whether 
I ever succeeded in making myself clearly under- 
stood.” 

“ Is there any book where this is set forth ? ” 

“You will probably find what you desire in the 
introduction to any of the peerages ; but let me tell 
you that in general the persons whom one cares for 
the least, such as servants and tradespeople, are most 
precise in the use of titles. Some of my brother peers 
are far more exacting in this respect than I am. My 
friend, the Duke of Berkshire and Chiltern, is most 
familiar in conversation with commoners ; but, if a 
commoner should forget to introduce “Your Grace ” 
into every other sentence, he is soon made to under- 
stand that he is speaking to a duke who will not .stand 
any nonsense. Another rule I may lay down for your 
guidance. The newer the peer the more sensitive he 
is on points of etiquette. Be assured, however, that 
when it is seen you me^n no o.fiense a gentlemaa will 


THE DUKE OF WINDSOR. i8l 

never take it. Besides, citizens of the United States 
are not supposed to be versed in the aristocratic 
distinctions of the Old World." 

“ Well, duke, or your grace, as perhaps I ought to 
say, I shall not give offense to any one intentionally 
and though I am unable to see the necessity for your 
aristocratic distinctions, I have lived long enough and 
seen enough of the world to recognize that the cus- 
toms of every country ought to be respected by 
strangers. Some of your young men who visit America 
seem to forget this and they produce a bad impression 
upon our people." 

“ Let us change the subject to one of immediate 
interest to myself. I have sonie money to invest and 
I wish to get as high interest as I can with reasonable 
safety. Which of your railways is the safest ? " 

“ As you have asked for my candid opinion you 
shall have it. Our railroads are good investments 
when one has the control of them. I have not a cent 
in any. All my money is in United States securities." 

“ But I thought, Mr. Bayle, that you had made 
money by investing in railway shares ? " 

“ No, your grace, or duke, it was by speculating in 
them. I bought them only to sell at a profit, and it was 
the stupidity of British investors that enabled me to 
do so. I have been told since coming here that I am 
a wholesale robber of the widow and the orphan. 
What I did was to buy Washout stock when it was very 
cheap and sell it when it was far too dear, the rise in 
price being due to the large amount of bonds which 
were subscribed for in this country, and then your 
people began to buy the stock also. If they had been 
wise they would not have bought either bonds or stock. 
They squeal now they are hurt and call me names. 
Surely they are to blame and not me ! " 

“ Probably you are right. The bait of high interest 
is the temptation which makes our capitalists invest in 
your railway shares. This influenced me and this is 


i 82 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


the reason why I have asked your advice. However, 
I shall give up the notion.” 

“ Well, sir, I mean duke, you will have no reason to 
regret leaving our railroads severely alone. I am 
maturing a scheme which will insure their better man* 
agemerft and limit the stealing which now goes on. I 
guess I shall make something by the deal, but then I 
shall deserve it. A man must have some inducement 
to give his best attention to other people’s property.” 

“ I shall be glad to hear about your plan when it is 
completed. By the way, I hope to see your wife, your 
daughter and yourself at Druid’s Mount, where we 
go next week. We have to make up a list of persons 
whom the prince would like to meet. He is to pay us 
a visit with his eldest son.” 

Mr. Bayle asked what prince was meant ; the duke 
explained that by the prince, the Prince of Wales was 
generally understood. Mr. Bayle said his wife and 
daughter had been presented to him at Monte Carlo 
and that in any case they would feel as pleased as him- 
self to visit Druid’s Mount. 

The Duke of Windsor was a peer whom every one re- 
spected and agreed that he did not do himself justice. 
He had often been pressed, but had uniformly declined 
to accept high office in the government. He wa» a Con- 
servative as well as a peer by birth. Some members of 
his party thought him lukewarm because he would not 
admit that every Radical ought to be hanged. He was 
ready to vote with his party on most occasions, but he 
excused himself from doing so in every case by alleg- 
ing that he was a moderate Conservative and not a 
red-hot Tory. When his more ardent political friends 
affirmed that the English consitution was the perfec- 
tion of human wisdom he staggered them by saying 
that its chief merit was that it could be easily adapted 
to the changed condition of the country. They held 
reform to be revolution ; he maintained with Dr. Ar- 
nold that it was a measure of self-preservation. 

The Duke of Windsor honored his ancestors who 


THE DUKE OF WINDSOR. 183 

had played important parts on the theater of public 
affairs ; but he could not deny that they had often in- 
jured the country by their blunders. The greatest of 
these he considered to be the blind opposition which 
one of them offered, in common with his fellow Tories, 
to the original demands of the American colonists, an 
opposition which drove them in despair to take up 
arms against the motherland and ended in the inde- 
pendence of the United States of America. He thought 
the policy of Chatham, Burke and Fox the true and 
patriotic one, and that the policy of George the Third, 
which the Tories encouraged and supported in both 
Houses of Parliament, was an irretrievable and a most 
lamentable error. But,while doubting whether his Tory 
friends were always right in their views and action, he 
felt even stronger doubts about the superiority of the 
wishes and aims of the latter-day Radicals. The radi- 
calism which he preferred was that which Lord 
Beaconsfield professed when a young man and which 
was never expressly renounced by him when an old one. 
Yet he was no idolater of Lord Beaconsfield. The 
duke had traveled through Europe and Asia as well 
as America and he had learned from personal obser- 
vation neither to dread Russia as an enemy nor to 
desire Turkey for a friend. 

It was the duke’s good fortune not to possess any 
property in Ireland ; hence he kept his temper when 
Irish questions were under discussion. His father had 
been one of Mr. Gladstone’s college friends and had 
remained his bosom friend through life, and the duke 
had continued the acquaintance made with Mr. Glad- 
stone under his father’s roof, so, while disapproving 
of many of Mr. Gladstone’s opinions and acts, he was 
not among, the number of those who maintained that 
he was either possessed with a devil or was really the 
devil in person. 

He was a rich man even for an English duke. He 
had house-property in London ; an estate in Bucking- 
hamshire and another in the West of England where 


MISS BA YLES ROMANCE. 


minerals abounded. The duke carefully managed his 
property and he was accustomed to say that if he took 
a more active part in politics his estates would go to 
ruin. He was a generous as well as a prudent land- 
lord and this rendered him popular despite his infre- 
quent public appearances. 

The duke’s leisure was devoted in part to reading 
and in part to the cultivation of science. His charac- 
ter may be best summed up by saying that he was a 
thorough English gentleman of the modern school ; a 
man who respected others and wished to obtain their 
respect in turn ; who was as devoid of false pride as 
of false pretense, who was liked by those wth whom 
he came in contact because they felt that the liking 
which he manifested for them was perfectly genuine. 
If the hereditary peerage contained many more men 
of his stamp the voices calling for its abolition would 
be feeble and few. 

The Duchess of Windsor was differently constituted 
from her husband. She unduly magnified her posi- 
tion. In her eyes the people at large were created to 
serve those whom she considered their betters and to 
be despised by them. Her father had been Lord High 
Chancellor of England. His family name was Beau- 
clerc and he retained it when raised to the peerage. 
He had a large income as a barrister-at-law ; but the 
sum which he had saved was not large. 

When Lord Beauclerc resigned his seat on the 
woolsack which, to his lasting disappointment, he had 
occupied for two years only, he found it easy to live 
in comfort on his pension of five thousand pounds 
sterling. He was then a widower. Happily he had 
no son to struggle after him through life as a poor 
peer. His two daughters were both very beautiful. 
They had lived much in France and spoke French 
perfectly : it was during a visit to the Pyrenees that 
the eldest daughter made the acquaintance of Count 
de Flaubard and eventually became his wife. The 
twenty thousand pounds which formed her dowry 


THE DUKE OF WINDSOR. 185 

rendered her quite as attractive as her beauty in the 
count’s eyes. A year later her younger sister became 
the wife of the Duke of Windsor, who married her for 
her beauty alone and who soon found that she pos- 
sessed no other personal attraction. She had two 
sons, the younger one. Lord Plowden, was her favorite; 
she seldom saw or cared to see the elder. Indeed, she 
had not much affection to lavish upon any body. For 
her sister she entertained as much love as she could 
feel for any one except herself and she was always 
ready to do what lay in her power to help and please 
her. She loved her husband as much as she supposed 
she ought to do. To the eye of the world they got on 
well together. In fact, they agreed so well to differ 
that they never quarreled. 

It was to please her sister, as has already been 
stated, that the duchess tried to make friends with 
Mrs. Bayle. By one of those odd chances which baffle 
explanation the duchess took a real fancy to Miss 
Bayle and the latter reciprocated the feeling. She 
thought, indeed, that her nephew Count Louis would 
be very fortunate if he married her and she resolved 
to do her utmost to forward the match. 

The greatest piece of condescension which the 
duchess ever practiced in her life was to offer to pre- 
sent Mrs. Bayle and her daughter at the next drawing- 
room, which was the last of the season. As she had 
arranged to go herself in any case, the sacrifice was 
not great ; but, then, she had always refused to render 
such a service to any one else. Miss Bayle was en- 
chanted and her mother was scarcely less pleased at 
the prospect of going to the drawing-room. Their 
only regret was that the queen would then be at Bal- 
moral instead of Buckingham Palace and that the 
Princess of Wales would act in her stead. They had 
both as sincere a desire to see the queen, on such an 
occasion, as the most attached and loyal subject could 
possibly entertain. 

When the duke was told of the arrangement he 


i86 


MJSS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


expressed himself highly pleased. He felt, though he 
did not express surprise at the unusual kindness of his 
wife, whom he knew to have a dislike for all Americans. 
However, he did not inquire as to her motives, being 
entirely satisfied with her conduct. He offered in turn 
to present Mr. Bayle at the lev^e which was to be held 
about the same time as the drawing-room. Mr. Bayle 
thanked him ; he, too, was curious to see the Prince 
of Wales again. He had seen him as a lad when he 
visited Chicago, which was a few months after Mr. 
Bayle first entered that city. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS “ A GOOD TIME.” 

T he ladies enjoyed the spectacle of the drawing- 
room and the parts which they played in it. Mr. 
Bayle did not like the levee : he thought an affair of 
the kind was managed far better in Washington. He 
exercised the right of an American by going in even- 
ing dress ; his wife and daughter were dressed like 
other ladies who went to be presented to the princess ; 
the dresses of both were pronounced to be beautiful 
and in the best taste. 

One of the strangest pieces of legislation of modern 
times is the Act of Congress forbidding representatives 
of America to wear court dress at a foreign court. 
The late Charles Sumner was the originator of this 
extraordinary piece of sumptuary legislation and he 
was wont to speak with pride of his handiwork. He 
was an able man who had not the slightest sense of 
humor. What he really did without intending it was 
to prescribe a court dress for all Americans represent- 
ing their country at a foreign court, who were not in 
its military or naval service, and it is what other people 
call evening dress. 

Though an American millionaire, Mr. Bayle was not 
a duly accredited representative of the great republic 
of the West and he was not, therefore, expressly for- 
bidden by the law of his country from going to the 
levee in any dress he thought fit to wear. Neverthe- 
less he thought it his duty to adopt what Charles Sum- 
ner considered to be the appropriate costume for a 
plain American citizen ; the result being that he looked 
more conspicuous in his black clothes than any other 


1 88 MISS BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 

person at the levee, was stared at more than he liked, 
and overheard whispered comments upon tiis appear* 
ance which he liked still less. 

It was at the moment of presentation that Mr. Bayle 
felt most annoyed. He had written his name on a 
card to be handed to the lord chamberlain. He had 
strictly fulfilled the injunctions given him to the effect 
that his name was to be given in full and was to be 
written very legibly. On handing that card to the 
lord chamberlain, he announced his name to the 
prince as that of Mr. Ezra Palgrave ; , Mr. Bayle 
paused before bowing to the prince, thinking it odd 
that his name should not be given at length ; the 
lord chamberlain said in an impatient tone, “ Pray pass 
on, sir.” The prince smiled, thinking there was some 
mistake, but not knowing what it was. Mr. Bayle 
passed before him and forgot to bow. The on-lookers 
thought him guilty of intentional rudeness, while the 
fault lay with the lord chamberlain, who had not 
looked carefully at the card and who was both too 
hasty and irritable. However, the chief purpose for 
which gentlemen are presented at court was fulfilled. 
Mr. Bayle’s name appeared at full length next day in 
the list of presentations which was published in the 
newspapers. 

Mr. Atlas and Baron Parkhirst kept their word and 
called upon Mrs. Bayle and her daughter as soon as 
they knew they were in London ; in due time, they 
were introduced to Mr. Bayle. Owing to their ac- 
quaintance with these gentlemen, the Bayles saw 
London life to greater advantage than if they had 
been the intimate friends of all the dukes and duch- 
e.sses in the land. Mr. Bayle was not less impressed 
with the hospitality of Mr. Atlas than with the luxu- 
rious existence which he had created for himself by 
his pen. He had two country houses, one on the 
Thames, and one at Brighton, and a fine mansion in 
the most fashionable part of town. 

“ Do all your newspaper men live in such splendid 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS A GOOD TIMET 189 

style ? ” was the inquiry which Mr. Bayle put to Mr. 
Atlas soon after making his acquaintance. 

Mr. Atlas modestly replied, “ It is our artists, and 
not humble journalists like myself, who are housed 
like millionaires. My style of life is comparatively 
simple ; if you wish to see those of my profession who 
live like Sardanapalus, you should make the acquaint- 
ance of my colleagues. I can assure you also that my 
finest house is a mere hovel when compared with the 
palace of T7'uthy 

“ Well, well,” was Mr. Bayle’s reply, “ I have heard 
a great deal about English journalism being profit- 
able, but I had no idea that your editors and news- 
paper people were all so prosperous. The richest of 
our prominent newspaper men, Whitelaw Reid and 
Gordon Bennett, do not live in grander style.” 

The Bayle family visited Brighton at the invitation 
of Mr. Atlas ; they had too many engagements in 
town to spend more than a day there. But that day 
was an enjoyable one to them. They liked both the 
Aquarium and the Pier, and they agreed that the 
principal shops were as fine as those of Regent Street. 
Mr. Bayle having said that he would like to take a 
walk along the promenade in front of the sea, his wife 
and daughter left him to join Mr. Atlas and his wife 
in a drive. Mrs. Bayle disliked walking nearly as 
much as housekeeping. 

Mr. Bayle had not gone far ; indeed, he was pass- 
ing in front of the Grand Hotel when a burly and 
jovial-looking man stopped and exclaimed, “ Hello, 
Ez, what brings you here 1 ” 

Mr. Bayle did not recognize the speaker, and said 
after looking at him, “ I am sorry, sir, but I can not 
place you.” 

The other replied, “ I am not surprised ; this beard 
has changed me.” 

Thereupon Mr. Bayle held out his hand saying. 
Why, Dave ! I could not make you out at the 
moment, and what brings you here ? I heard you 


190 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

were somewhere in Europe, but this is not a business 
city.” 

“ You are right there, Ez. But it is a pleasant one to 
live in. My wife could not bear London. We tried four 
houses in different parts of the town and one day pay- 
ing a visit to this place she took a fancy to it and we 
have been here ever since. My office is in London 
and I go backward and forward every day. There 
are several Americans here, and they all like it.” 

“ How does business progress ? ” 

“ Not so well as at first. The English people are 
fighting shy of American investments, and when I take 
some new land scheme or mine or railroad to capital- 
ists they always tell me that such things are played 
out. Your Washout Road, the Denver and Rio Grande, 
and the Emma Mine, have helped to scare English in- 
vesters.” 

“ I am sick to hear about Washout.” 

“ Well the English bondholders are sick of it too, I 
guess. However, call on me at my office in Grace 
Church Street and we may talk over other matters. 
Here is my card ; I will write my business address on 
it. I am on hand there most days between twelve and 
four. I have a very good thing at present which you 
might like to look at. There are millions in it.” 

“ I have found that to be the case with many good 
things before I took them up ; but .somehow the mil- 
lions never appeared afterward. But I will call and 
listen to what you have got to say.” 

“ Won’t you come and dine with us now ? ” 

“ I can not to-day, as I am on a visit here, and I 
must go to my host’s house, which is not far off.” So 
Ezra P. Bayle bade David Jackson, his friend and fel- 
low-countryman, good-by. 

He returned to London by the Pullman train after 
an early dinner. His daughter had enjoyed herself 
the most. She was disappointed, however, at not hav- 
ing met Mr. William Black, who she knew lived at 
Brighton. Mr. Atlas could not satisfy her curiosity 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS A ** GOOD TIMET 191 

about him, as they did not move in the same literary 
circle. When she asked him rather indiscreetly whether 
the popular novelist was not the most prominent citi- 
zen in Brighton, he told her, in reply, that the most 
prominent citizen he knew was Sir Horace Robinson, 
a great man and architect. If Miss Bayle had been 
better acquainted with Mr. Atlas she would have 
known that there were few residents in Brighton more 
popular and prominent than himself. On some far 
distant day when he is transferred to another sphere, 
the house in which he dwelt will doubtless be orna- 
mented with a tablet setting forth that “ Mr. Atlas, 
poet, novelist, and journalist, lived here.” 

Mr. Bayle liked the journey to and from Brighton 
as much as the place itself. He did so because it was 
made in the Pullman train. This was an unexpected 
treat. He did not know that Pullman cars were used 
in England. They pleasantly reminded him of his own 
country and of old times. Moreover, he had never 
seen in America a train composed of what he called 
“such real elegant cars,” provided for the accommo- 
dation of the public. In America the most comforta- 
ble and luxurious cars are reserved for the exclusive 
use of railway directors and their friends. 

Mr. Bayle took as great a liking to Baron Parkhirst 
as to Mr. Atlas. The latter knew nearly every thing 
and every body ; the former knew some things which 
were imperfectly known to Mr. Atlas. Mr. Bayle had 
given a great deal of his time to Freemasonry ; when 
he became a very rich man, he was elected Grand 
Master of Illinois. It is one of the glories of masonry 
to inculcate the doctrine of natural equality and mutual 
dependence. In America, negroes are refused admit- 
tance to a masonic lodge, and in England princes of 
the blood royal, and others of noble birth, are pre- 
ferred before all other masons for positions of dignity 
in the craft. 

Though neither of royal blood nor a peer of En- 
gland, Baron Parkhirst had risen to high masonic 


92 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


office ; but he was one of the brilliant exceptions. 
Unfortunately the masonic season was over ; but the 
baron intimated that, on his return to England in the 
autumn, Mr. Bayle would be presented in due form 
to his English brethren, and be made the recipient of 
masonic hospitality. 

He was still in time, however, to be a guest at the 
Mansion House, the last banquet of the season not 
having been given. He enjoyed the ceremony and 
some of the speeches. Happily, the lord mayor was 
versed in the pronunciation of his native tongue. 
Indeed, he surprised Mr, Bayle and elicited loud ap- 
plause from appreciative aldermen, sheriffs, common 
councilmen and other guests by introducing into one 
of his speeches a quotation from Homer in the origi- 
nal Greek. The aldermen not only applauded and 
enjoyed the Greek lines, but they had the further 
satisfaction of regarding the strangers present with a 
patronizing and pitying air, as much as to say, “ We 
know more things in the city than you fancy ; what 
may be heathen Greek to you is like plain English to 
us." It is still true, as Mr. Moore wrote in the first 
number of Dodesley’s World on the 4th of January, 
1753, that “a little Latin or Greek to those who un- 
derstand no language but English is both satisfactory 
and entertaining." 

The United States minister returned thanks for the 
visitors, and, when doing so, he noticed a 'Remark of 
the lord mayor to the effect that among those 
present was a great financier whose name was famous 
on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and said he re- 
gretted that his distinguished countryman was forbid- 
den by etiquette to return thanks in person, but that 
he had been commissioned by him to say how greatly 
he appreciated the courtesy and hospitality of the 
citizens of London who were such excellent judges of 
financial genius. Some Washout bondholders were 
present, and they made a few comments in an under- 
tone which, if they had been uttered aloud, might 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS A “ GOOD TIMET 193 

have disturbed the harmony of the proceedings. Mr. 
Bayle admired the display of gold plate at the Mansion 
House. On returning to his hotel, he told his wife 
and daughter how fine the spectacle was, adding, “ If 
I were lord mayor I should make a change in one 
thing. Would you believe it, Judy ! On coming 
away two or three footmen in liveries covered with 
gold lace handed me my hat and overcoat, and pushed 
forward a basin with money in it for me to put some 
in. I was never more astonished in my life.” His 
wife’s comment was, “ Now, Mr. Bayle, I call that 
real mean.” 

He did not know that it is a species of high treason 
for a guest at the Mansion House to comment unfa- 
vorably upon any city custom. Fortunately for 
himself he erred in ignorance ; besides, he was at the 
time beyond the jurisdiction of the lord mayor and 
aldermen. 

He was not a little pleased to receive on the follow- 
ing day an invitation to a banquet to be given in his 
honor by Mr. Gill, the head of the American Inter- 
national Bank, v^hich makes special provision for the 
wants of American travelers in Europe. He was 
requested to name the day which would suit him ; he 
did so and accepted the invitation with heartfelt 
delight. He was further gratified with the request that 
his wife and daughter would also honor the host 
with their presence. It was natural that Mr. Gill 
should show respect for Mr. Bayle, who had ten 
thousand pounds to his credit in his bank. 

The dinner was choice ; the company select. The 
Criterion Restaurant was the place of meeting and the 
manager had been desired to place on the table his 
oldest and finest wines as well as all the delicacies of 
the season. Mr. Gill was unaware, when giving the 
order as to wine, that his chief guest drank water 
only. The company numbered thirty. It was com- 
posed of men eminent in finance, letters, politics, and 
journalism, being the men whom Mr. Bayle wished to 


194 Miss BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

meet and who were curious to see him. Baron Park- 
hirst, Mr. Atlas, Mr. G. La Salle, and Mr. Pulerock, 
M. P., were conspicuous among the English guests. 
Mr. Bayle was disappointed next day that no mention 
of the entertainment appeared in any of the London 
newspapers ; a fews days later, a pleasantly turned 
paragraph appeared in The World ; but that was all 
the publicity it received in England. However, as 
two American journalists of note were among the 
guests, several American newspapers contained an 
almost verbatim account of the proceedings. From 
their columns, the following details of the after- 
dinner speeches are extracted and condensed. 

The report of the speeches was preceded by the 
names of the guests. The bill of fare was given in 
full as well as the list of the wines with their names 
and the dates of their vintage ; these particulars occu- 
pied much space without profiting those who read 
them. 

Mr. Gill, who presided, rose and said, “ Gentlemen : 
— I mean to run this dinner on American principles 
and 1 now ask you to drink the health of Mr. Ezra P. 
Bayle, whom you must be all glad to meet this even- 
ing. Our English friends always begin their after- 
dinner exercises with toasts to the queen, the royal 
family and the army and the navy. We entertain such 
good wishes for the health of our president for the 
time being that we do not think it necessary to express 
them as a mere matter of form. Being all sovereigns 
we have no need to toast a royal family. 

“ At the public dinners in England I have remarked 
that, after the army and navy have been praised in 
glowing terms, a venerable general frequently responds 
to the effect that the army is going to the dogs and 
that the government is to blame for this, and a vener- 
able admiral makes the same consolatory remark with 
regard to the navy, though there are times when the 
general and admiral maintain that the army and navy 
are perfect, and are the terror and admiration of the 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS A " GOOE TIME:^ 195 


world. Now we have such complete faith in our army 
and navy doing their duty, that we take this for granted. 
Our English friends who are present here to-night will 
not think it disrespectful to them or their institutions, 
if I omit the toast which they so often hear at social 
gatherings in this country. 

“ It is not the American custom to praise a man 
strongly before his face. We have all a good opinion 
of ourselves and we are not always dying for any con- 
firmation of it. Every one who is well acquainted 
with American affairs knows that Mr. Ezra P. Bayle is 
a representative capitalist of whom his countrymen 
are naturally proud. We all desire to collect dollars 
and we are so unselfish as to admire those who succeed. 
For his great merit in this respect Mr. Bayle’s fellow- 
citizens of Chicago have resolved to erect in his honor 
a statue in Lincoln Park, and this statue, in accord- 
ance with the Western ideas, is to be far bigger than 
the one Commodore Vanderbilt erected in honor of 
himself in New York City. With a liberality which 
does him credit, Mr. Bayle has offered to pay the whole 
cost of the statue out of his own pocket and this has 
greatly increased his popularity in the West,where peo- 
ple do not object to things being done for them on a 
gigantic scale at other people’s expense. 

“ I may assert without boasting that no people are so 
generous as regards monuments as we are, though 
sometimes, as in the case of Washington, we may take , 
a long time in finishing them. You all know, I sup- 
pose, what happened when on the proposition of Mr. 
Bartholdi, the French sculptor, it was resolved that 
France should present America with a statue of ‘ Lib- 
erty Enlightening the World.’ The subscriptions from 
Frenchmen being far too small to pay the cost, Ameri- 
cans provided the greater part of the money, while 
France enjoys all the credit of the gift. I am sure 
you will all join with me in wishing long life and pros- 
perity to Mr. Bayle, that you will at the same time pay 
a like compliment to his wife and daughter who have 


196 MISS BAYLE'S ROMANCE, 

charmed us with their presence this evening, thus we 
shall recognize the triumph of western enterprise in 
the father, and the attraction of western beauty and 
spirit in the mother and daughter.” 

When Mr. Gill sat down Mrs. Bayle whispered to 
her daughter, “ Almy, I call that a real elegant 
speech.” She was moved to say this, though she 
would have hesitated to avow it, on account of the 
closing sentence, having a woman’s appreciation of a 
compliment, especially when neither young nor good- 
looking. Mr. Gill’s flattery had much more effect 
upon her than upon her daughter, who accepted praise 
as her due. 

Mr. Bayle began his reply by protesting that he was 
not much of a hand at a speech and had not much 
to say, and then he spoke fluently for upward of an 
hour. He warmly thanked the chairman in the names 
of his wife and daughter as well as his own, for all the 
kind expressions he had used, he stated that they 
highly appreciated the courtesy they had received in 
England and that he was personally grateful for the 
tribute paid to them and himself by his fellow-coun- 
trymen in a strange land. He went on to say, and his 
own words may now be used : 

“ I like the English better than I thaught I should, 
but I find them a curious people in many respects. 
They talk of my having robbed widows and orphans, 
because I made considerable money by speculating in 
Washout stock. If any of them had done the same 
thing they would probably have taken credit to them- 
selves for smartness. Now our people are entirely 
different, as they do not find fault with a man for 
being smart, but try to get points from him, whereas 
the English seem to suppoee that a smart man who 
succeeds must be a bad one. I wish, sir, to say right 
here that our people better deserve to make money 
than any others, because when a man become a mil- 
lionaire in Europe he thinks himself different from 
any poorer man and will not even shake hands with 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS A “ GOOD TIMET 197 

him, whereas in America every man is always ready to 
shake hands with his neighbor. Besides our people 
invest their savings in the country, while English capi- 
talists seem to prefer investing their money out of the 
country and squeal when they lose it.” 

He dilated on this theme at great length, his object 
being to demonstrate the virtuousness of American 
capitalists and the wickedness of others. It may suf- 
fice to give some of his references to England. 

“ Now, sir, I am well acquainted with Wall Street. 
I see a gentleman at this table who is a member of the 
British legislature and who, I believe, was once a 
prominent broker there, and he will indorse my state- 
ments. Business men in Wall Street have got to keep 
their heads mighty level if they mean to succeed. 
Since I have been here I have met several men and 
done business with them who belong to the London 
Stock Exchange. You may bet your life, sir, that 
they are as good hands at a deal or a corner as any 
Wall Street brokers. Why, sir, they have made sug- 
gestions to me for getting ahead of John Bull, which 
are uncommonly like stealing. I don’t think English 
financiers are quite the people to play at throwing 
stones at American glass houses. I have no doubt 
that you and other gentlemen present who have known 
this country longer, are entirely of my opinion, and I 
have no doubt also that your kind reception of me is a 
proof of this. I thank you all and I can assure you 
that since I. have been on this side of the Atlantic I 
have never felt so like being at home again as I do 
to-night.” 

Mr. Gill then informed the company that his friend 
Mr. King Edwards had come expressly from Paris to 
attend the dinner ; that he had made the acquaintance 
of Mrs. Bayle and her daughter there, and that he was 
anxious to do honor to Mr. Bayle whom he knew by 
reputation. They were all well acquainted, no doubt, 
with the poems of his friend, and they would assuredly 
take great pleasure in listening to one which he had 


198 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


offered to read to them. It was an extract from a 
great epic which would probably be laid before the 
public in England and America at no distant day. It 
may be added, what Mr. Gill did not know, that Miss 
Bayle was a far stronger attraction to his friend than 
the desire to do honor to her father. 

Mr. King Edwards admired Miss Bayle the first 
time he saw her. But, as he was wont to say, he had 
nine wives already and he had vowed fidelity to them 
till a certain task had been accomplished through their 
inspiration and with their aid. He spent all the hours 
he could spare from the indispensable occupation of 
bread-winning, in communing with the tuneful nine, as 
they used to be styled, and he had resolved never to 
marry a mere mortal till he had secured for himself 
the immortality which they have the power to bestow 
upon their favored adorers. The. great work he had 
planned was to be called The New Earthy and it was 
to display the transformation of the world at the 
instigation and in accordance with the example of 
America. His ambition was to succeed where Joel 
Barlow had failed, and to become the Milton of the 
American continent. 

The short piece which Mr. King Edwards read was 
entitled The Tribute of the Nations ; he prefaced it by 
expressing his hope that it would not be reproduced 
in print till such time as he thought fit to give it to the 
world, and his wish was granted. Its purport was to 
show how America had grown and flourished through 
the gifts cast into her lap by the people who lived in 
less fortunate countries, and the rise of such men of 
financial might as the millionaires of America was 
shown to be largely due to their skill in making the 
capitalists of other countries pay them tribute. Mr. 
Bayle shook hands with Mr. King Edwards, saying as 
he did so : “ I thank you, sir, for your elegant ‘ pome.’ 
Though I don’t profess to be a judge of poetry, I most 
cordially indorse your sentiments.” 

While Americans do not waste time after dinner in 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS A “ GOOD TIMET 199 

drinking toasts corresponding to the loyal and patriotic 
ones which Englishmen appear to prize, they add many 
others to the toast list. Hence toast after toast was 
proposed by Mr. Gill and duly responded to. Out of 
the many it maybe enough if two be given in full, the 
reply of Mr. Harold to the toast of the American 
Press, and the speech of Baron Parkhirst in proposing 
the health of the chairman. 

“I candidly admit,” said Mr. Harold, “that the 
American Press is the best in the world. There are 
some fairly good newspapers in England, but they all 
want vim. Our newspapers do not profess to teach 
the people ; they are written to please them and to sell. 
Now, sir, the business of a daily paper is to give plenty 
of news and make considerable money. We tell people 
what they want to know. When Mr. Bayle returns 
home, he will be interviewed and our people will learn 
what he thinks of Europe. We are blamed by starched 
English critics for giving too many personal details, 
for writing up murders and railroad accidents, but if 
our people did not like these things they would not 
buy the papers. I have written a good many editorials, 
but I have always felt that I had many more interested 
readers when I reported police news and daily hap- 
penings for The Herald. 

“ The very first day after arriving in London I took 
the measure of English journalism and found it a one- 
horse affair. I went off to interview the late Lord 
Beaconsfield and sent in my card by a flunkey who 
returned with a message, which he delivered in a con- 
temptuous style, that ‘ his lordship did not know me, 
and could not receive me.’ I tried Mr. Gladstone and 
other prominent men, but had no better luck. In our 
country a public man would not dare to keep a re- 
porter at his door as I was kept by these men. The 
worst of.it was that I had to write the interviews all 
the same and I found this much tougher work than if 
I had spoken with these men and been able to describe 
their appearance. I found afterward I had got rather 


200 


MISS BA YLE'S BOMjTNCE. 


mixed as to their heights and the colors of their hair, 
and I was told by the next mail to give up interview- 
ing if I could not do better than that. It is pleasant, 
however, to be present to-night at a gathering of my 
own countrymen who can understand and sympathize 
with me and there is no fear of any mistake being 
made about this most agreeable and truly American 
entertainment.” 

Baron Parkhirst, in proposing the last toast said : 
“ Were it not that the toast I have to propose is one 
which can lose nothing in any hands, I should feel 
greater diffidence than I now do in following so many 
speakers who are masters of all the arts and graces of 
oratory. I should much have preferred remaining a 
simple and delighted listener. Without presuming to 
put myself in competition with those who have in- 
structed and enlivened us this evening, 1 may perhaps 
be permitted to refer briefly to some things which 
impressed me in two of the speeches to which I have 
listened with profound attention and, I venture to 
hope, with no inconsiderable profit. 

“ It must be gratifying to all the possessors of prop- 
erty, who are deeply interested in the preservation of 
social order, that millionaires are highly esteemed in 
America and that they are honored monuments in- 
stead of being subjected to ransom. Indeed I read in 
the New York Herald the other day that the only 
piece of false news a prominent citizen never protests 
against is that which styles him a millionaire. 

“ When visiting Paris recently I attended a meeting 
at the Chateau D’Eau where it was proposed to solve 
what the French call the social problem by shooting 
the Rothschilds and other rich men. A speaker 
moved an amendment to this which merits the atten- 
tion of Mr. Bayle in the event of his deciding to take 
up his abode in Paris. Shooting millionaires was 
pronounced a mistake ; but it was agreed that they 
should be shut up in prison, kept several days without 
food and then compelled to sign checks for whatever 


THE MILLIONAIRE HAS A “ GOOD TIMET 201 

they got to eat ; thus they might have either to pay 

100.000 francs for a mutton cutlet, or die of hunger. 
Surely it is far pleasanter to live in a country where 
people erect statues to you, than one in which they 
compel you under the penalty of starvation to pay 

20.000 dollars for a cutlet. [“ You are quite right, 
sir,” was the remark which Mr. Bayle interposed with 
much feeling and emphasis.] The chief drawback 
I can see to the indefinite increase of millionaires in 
America is that it may lead to a corresponding increase 
in monuments, so that, in the course of time ‘ The 
New Earth ’ of Mr. King Edwards will be filled with 
old monuments. 

“ It being the chief pride of my life to have been for 
many years prominently connected with the press of 
England,! listened attentively to Mr. Harold’s eloquent 
eulogium upon the press of his country. That press cer- 
tainly succeeds in collecting and printing news of all 
sorts ; thus it is that I learned from a New York news- 
paper what Mr. Jay Gould paid for his house at Irving- 
ton, how many servants he has, and the wages they re- 
ceive. I also learned — and for this some indefatigable 
reporter must have toiled hard, or trusted to his 
imagination for his facts — that Miss Nellie, the only 
daughter of Mr. Jay Gould, gets $5,000 a year where- 
with to buy clothes and prevent her complaining that 
she has nothing to wear. Truly the enterprise of 
American journalists is surprising. Some of our 
English papers are attempting to keep pace with 
them ; but hitherto the conventional sanctity of private 
life has been respected. However, on this side of the 
Atlantic as on the other, the day may not be far 
distant when the mass of irrelevant information may 
become far in excess of useful knowledge, and daily 
newspapers may completely supersede magazines, re- 
views and books. 

“ I confess that I seldom read a newspaper printed 
in any other country than my own without learning 
something about England that I did not know before. 


S02 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

Thus I have learned from American journals many 
startling things about this country, and only the other 
day, when glancing over the columns of a Parisian 
newspaper, I learned that England bore the stigma of 
being the ‘ enemy of the human race.’ Hence it is 
that, as Mr. Harold indicated, the press holds the 
mirror up to nature and keeps mankind ‘ well posted,’ 
to use an Americanism, as to what is right and wrong. 
However, you will pardon me, perhaps, for having 
dilated so long and discursively upon a theme which 
Mr. Harold treated with such thorough knowledge 
and assurance, and I must now ask you to drink to 
the health of our host who may be called, in a 
phrase which is doubtless familiar to the guest of the 
evening, ‘a perfect daisy.’ You will join me, I feel 
sure, in expressing the hope that he will always con- 
tinue to act as such.” 

Mr. Gill’s response was short and effective : “ I am 
sincerely obliged to you all for your kind wishes. 
Baron Parkhirst has shown his familiarity with our 
beautiful American tongue by more than one expres- 
sion. Let me add, then, in the same home-like 
phrase, that I trust you will ‘ call again ’ and I can 
assure you that, the oftener you do so, whether as 
guests or cu.stomers, the better I shall be pleased.” 

Before Baron Parkhirst, Mr. Atlas and Mr. La Salle 
parted outside the banqueting room they exchanged a 
few remarks. The baron said to Mr. La Salle, who 
had as intimate a knowledge of America as Mr. Atlas 
himself, “ Surely our millionaire friend was not in 
earnest ; he can not have swallowed all Mr. Gill’s com- 
pliments ! ” 

“ In earnest, my dear boy,” was Mr. La Salle’s 
response ; “ did you ever find an American joking 
when he eulogized his own country, or conscious he 
was being chaffed when he was over-praised to his face ? 
Why they all believe that their country is an El- 
Dorado and that they are potential millionaires ! ” 

Mr. Atlas chimed in wdth this remark, “ I think you 


THE MiLUONAtkE HAS A '^^GOOD TIMET 203 

are rather too sweeping. When I was last in Boston 
I met with many gentlemen who were as severe upon 
uncultured millionaires as any man of letters could 
desire. To them as to us the prospect of the country 
being crowded with statues and millionaires would 
seem either a hideous absurdity or a gross profana- 
tion.” 

Baron Parkhirst was able to confirm this ; as he, 
too, had seen much of the brightest and best side of 
America ; so he remarked : “ I think, Mr. Harold 
judged his newspapers and ours too much from a 
reporter’s point of view. I found the leading editors 
and writers in America highly educated men. Perhaps 
the working-up of police and divorce cases may help 
a young man who joins the press, but if I were an 
American journalist I should cultivate my powers of 
graphic description for expounding or exposing rail- 
way policy and finance. A good writer on these topics 
is a great power in America.” 

They all agreed, however, that, while some of the 
speeches were open to criticism, the millionaire’s 
daughter was above praise. 

The feeling that the English guests at the dinner 
entertained for Miss Bayle was reciprocated by her. 
When her mother and father returned to the hotel, 
they commented upon the entertainment. Mr. Bayle 
had been praised till he was more convinced than ever 
of the greatness of his country, and himself. Mrs. 
Bayle was slowly digesting the pleasant compliment 
with which Mr. Gill had ended his speech. Miss Bayle 
was the only critic and her criticism was most genial. 

“ Why is it,” she asked of her father, “that our 
newspapers represent Englishmen as unable to speak 
in public without hesitating over every word ? Our 
own folks spoke beautifully to-night ; but Mr. Atlas, 
Mr. La Salle, and Baron Parkhirst spoke quite as 
well : indeed I rather preferred the last three to all 
the rest, even including you, father.” 

“ Well, Alma, we need not quarrel with your taste. 


204 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

You always liked strangers best. Still it is quite true 
that our papers are down upon Englishmen. Why 
should they get credit for fighting or speaking ? 
English newspapers are just as bad. Don’t they say 
all they can against Americans ? Perhaps they don’t 
mean all they say, nor do our people always show 
more disposition to be fair. We may have to wait 
long for two nations like the English and American 
understanding each other. However, I have had a 
high old time and am now quite ready to retire. 
Good-night." 


CHAPTER XXII. 


VISITING PLACES AND PARLIAMENT. 

M r. BAYLE had not been many days in London 
before he grew tired of sight-seeing. He was 
honest enough to own that old buildings gave him no 
pleasure and that he preferred a hotel built yesterday 
to one in which Chaucer might have lived. He went, 
or rather he was taken to the British Museum and 
South Kensington, to St. Paul’s Cathedral and West- 
minster Abbey, and he gave it as his opinion that St. 
Patrick’s Cathedral in New York was a far more 
beautiful building than either St. Paul’s or West- 
minster, both of which he considered dark and dismal 
structures. 

His wife had no personal views on the subject of 
architecture. She was always ready to go sight-seeing 
or to do any thing else for w^hich her daughter ex- 
pressed a desire, and when she found her daughter 
full of admiration over a church or museum she pro- 
nounced it very good. Miss Bayle often disagreed 
with her father’s criticisms, and when he said, “ Well, 
Alma, these churches and museums may be very 
elegant, but they don’t enthuse me,” and she replied, 
“ Surely, father, you wouldn’t have any thing in 
Europe just the same as in Chicago ! I like things 
here because they are so different. If they were not 
old, they wouldn’t be worth looking at. Nobody goes 
from Europe to admire our new Chicago buildings.” 

The result was that Mr. Bayle went daily to the city, 
where he spent several hours, while his wife and 
daughter went sight-seeing. Mr. Bayle bought and 
sold shares and stocks, and he was as fully occupied 


2o6 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


and nearly as much excited as if he had been at home. 
He planned great financial schemes and he felt a proud 
satisfaction in thinking that the day might arrive when 
he would become the richest man in America if not 
in the world. 

Owing to Mr. Bayle spending his days in the city, 
Lord Plowden Eton resumed his post of escort to the 
ladies and he did so With pleasure. He was not sorry 
that his friends should envy his intimacy with the new 
American beauty. She was on good terms with him ; 
but whether she preferred him to any one else was 
doubtful. Her familiarity with him resembled that of 
a sister for a brother. She was wont to say, “ We are 
quite old acquaintances now ; ” and this was the 
explanation she gave for being more free and easy 
with him than with other young men who made no 
secret of their admiration for her. He had one thing 
in his favor. No other young Englishman pleased 
Mrs. Bayle so much, and Miss Bayle thought the bet- 
ter of Lord Plowden because he exerted himself to be 
agreeable to her mother, which none of her other 
English admirers thought of doing. 

Lord Plowden was able to take the ladies to some 
places which are not accessible to the general public, 
such as the private rooms of the queen in Buckingham 
Palace and Windsor Castle. The visit to these places 
gave great pleasure to Mrs. Bayle and her daughter. 
They derived but little personal gratification from the 
sight of the beautiful rooms in Buckingham Palace, 
which are now almost as deserted as the Hall of Tara, 
or for the pictures therein, such as the masterpieces of 
Teniers and Vandyke, of Rembrandt and Cuyp ; but 
they thoroughly enjoyed being able to boast of having 
seen them. In like manner, the rooms in Windsor 
Castle did not impress them ; yet two places there gave 
them unfeigned satisfaction, the royal vault and the 
royal plate room. 

A cemetery has as great a fascination for many 
Americans as a gallery of works of art has for other 


VISITING PLACES AND PilUJAMENT. 207 


people. The cemetery is the show-place in the princi- 
pal American cities. When, then, it was proposed to 
take Mrs. Bayle and her daughter into the .royal 
vaults, they readily assented and they looked ^grward 
to enjoy a great treat. Accordingly they were taken 
to the vault where rest the remains of Queen Charlotte 
and Queen Adelaide, of George the Third, George 
the Fourth, and William the Fourth and of several" 
royal princes and dukes ; and the spectacle greatly 
impressed them. It is true that all they saw was a 
number of coffins placed on shelves and covered with 
velvet ; the coffin containing the remains of a king or 
queen being covered with crimson velvet and that 
containing the remains of a royal but less elevated 
personage being covered with purple velvet. How- 
ever, though the ladies saw nothing that deserved to 
be called remarkable, they were not only satisfied, but 
they gloried in the thought that they could tell their 
friends, they had seen something which is not visible 
to any but highly-favored persons. 

They had a vivid enjoyment, moreover, in passing 
along the corridor leading to the private apartments 
in the castle and gazing upon the pictures representing 
the principal events in the personal career of the queen, 
such as her coronation, her marriage, the baptism and 
the marriage of the Prince of Wales. These pic- 
tures pleased them better than finer works of art. They 
had as little appreciation of the paintings of the old 
masters as their countrywoman Mrs. Beecher Stowe ; 
but they were not quite so candid as she in acknowl- 
edging inability to admire high art. Their case is no 
rare one. Very few of the visitors to picture galleries, 
whether they are American or English,'really appre- 
ciate what they see ; the admiration which they express 
is purely conventional and assumed, being a reflex of 
what is set forth in guide-books. 

There was no pretense in the admiration which Mrs. 
Bayle and her daughter lavished upon the contents of 
the royal plate room. That collection of articles in 


2o8 miss BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 

gold and silver gratified Mrs. Bayle more than any 
thing she had seen in England excepting the Crown 
Jewels in the Tower. It raised the queen in her esti- 
mation. She had no desire to sit upon a throne ; but 
she did envy the possessor of so many pieces of gold 
and silver plate ; of the silver articles taken from the 
Spanish Armada ; of the gold ornaments from Mex- 
ico ; of the nautilus shell set in gold by Benvenuto 
Cellini ; of Tippoo Saib’s footstool, being a tiger’s 
head in gold ; of the first gold nugget found in Aus- 
tralia ; of the golden tankards out of which the early 
English kings drank mead or ale. She gloated over 
the spectacle of these rare and precious articles ; her 
admiration was increased to the verge of enthusiasm 
when she was told that they were valued at several 
millions sterling. 

She remarked to her daughter, “ What a pity it is 
that your father is not here, Almy ! He would have 
liked this quite as well as going to the city.” 

“ Yes, mother, this is quite a sight. When you see 
the Johnsons you must tell them all about it. They 
have never seen it, though they have often been in 
i Cngland and bragged about what they saw. How mad 
they will be when you tell them that you saw all Queen 
Victoria’s gold and silver plate !” 

The first Sunday Miss Bayle spent in London was 
one which she long remembered. She had a strong 
v/ish to attend service in Westminster Abbey and Lord, 
riowden Eton, who knew the dean, was able to pro- 
cure seats for the ladies in a private pew. They had 
never heard the service of the Church of England till 
crossing the Atlantic, and they had never heard it to 
so great advantage as in the old abbey. Mrs. Bayle 
sat tranquilly through the service ; she neither under- 
stood nor appreciated it. But her daughter took a 
deep interest in it, though she might not have left the 
abbey in a satisfied and devout frame of mind if the 
sermon had not been as striking as the service. The 
preacher that day was her countryman, the Rev. Dr. 


VISI7VNG PLACES AND PA PL/A ME NT. 209 

Phillips Brooks, who was on a visit to England, and 
whose sermons are as much appreciated in the capital 
of England as they are in the capital of Massachusetts. 
Even the rapidity of utterance which mars the effect 
of his discourses in the opinion of some English lis- 
teners, did not seem a drawback to Miss Bayle who 
followed him with unalloyed delight. 

Curiosity led her to seek for admission to hear the 
proceedings in Parliament. Here again Lord Plowden 
was able to gratify her wishes. She first visited the 
House of Lords and both her mother and she found 
their respect for English noblemen descend to a low 
point when they saw a few venerable gentlemen repre- 
senting the hereditary legislators of the united king- 
dom. If these peers had only made themselves heard 
in the gallery, both ladies might have thought the 
better of them ; but only a sentence of their speeches 
was audible at intervals and the ladies left the gilded 
chamber without any desire to revisit it. Miss Bayle 
told Lord Plowden that the Upper House must have 
changed since Lord Beaconsfield wrote about it. To 
this Lord Plowden could make no other reply than that 
he had not read the books referred to. 

“ What ! you call yourself a Conservative and you 
have not read Lord Beaconsfield’s novels ! Well, I 
never ! I was surprised to find that though you were 
fond of yachting you knew nothing of William Black’s 
novels ; but this is almost , worse. What is it that you 
know ? ” 

I am very sorry," was Lord Plowden’s apology, 
“ but I have often told you I have scarcely any time 
for reading. However, you should not harp on my 
ignorance of Mr. Black’s novels, as I have read them 
now and like them immensely, and I promise to read 
Lord Beaconsfield’s too. My father has a presenta- 
tion copy of them from the author. Which shall I 
read first ? ’’ 

‘‘ Why ! if you want to know about your House of 
Lords read ‘ The Young Duke,’ and if you want his 


210 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


opinions about your country and House of Commons 
read ‘ Sybil/ who, I may tell you, is a charming charac- 
ter. I should so like to have known her.” 

This conversation took place in the sitting-room of 
the Bayles at the Hotel Metropole. Books were 
scattered over a side-table there. Going to it Miss 
Bayle selected “The Young Duke” from the heap, 
brought it to Lord Plowden and said, “ Read that, 
and tell me if what we heard in the House of Lords 
last night was half as good.” He read the passage 
which occurs at the beginning of the sixth chapter of 
the first volume, and is as follows : “ We laugh at a 
debate, especially in the Upper House ; but on the 
whole, the affair is imposing, particularly if we take 
part in it. Lord Ex-Chamberlain thought the nation 
going on wrong ; and he made a speech full of cur- 
rency and constitution. Baron Deprivyseal seconded 
him with great effect, brief but bitter, satirical and 
sore. The Earl of Quarterday answered these, full 
of confidence in the nation and in himself. When the 
debate was getting heavy, Lord Snap jumped up to 
give them something light. The lords do not encour- 
age wit, and so are obliged to put up with pertness. 
But Viscount Memoir was very statesmanlike, and 
spouted a sort of universal history. Then there was 
Lord Ego, who vindicated his character, when nobody 
knew he had one, and explained his motives, because 
his auditors could not understand his acts. Then 
there was a maiden speech, so inaudible, that it was 
doubted whether, after all, the young orator really did 
lose his virginity. In the end, up started the premier, 
who having nothing to say, was manly, and candid, 
and liberal ; gave credit to his adversaries, and took 
credit to himself, and then the motion was with- 
drawn.” 

“ Now, Lord Plowden,” Miss Bayle asked, “ was 
last night’s debate in the House of Lords any thing 
like so entertaining as this account ? ” 

“ I can not say that it was,” he replied ; “ but, then, 


VISITING PLACES AND PARLIAMENT. 


211 


you must remember the account in this book is a 
sketch of what might have happened. Besides, my 
father has often told me the House of Lords is very 
different from what it was when he first knew it, and 
that the most interesting speeches are now delivered 
in the House of Commons. Every body in the House 
of Lords says that the result of a division depends 
upon the Marquis of Salisbury, and that the speeches 
are not made to convince any one. But I do not 
know much of these things. Till yesterday I had 
only been once in the House of Lords, and that was 
when the queen opened Parliament. You may like 
the House of Commons better. I am promised orders 
for the ladies’ gallery to-morrow." 

The orders for the ladies gallery reached Mrs. Bayle 
the following morning and she and her daughter used 
them. They both thought it strange to be cooped up 
in a gloomy place where they could see and hear well, 
but could not be seen. They did not understand why 
the members of the House of Commons should be 
afraid of ladies being visible to themselves. They 
felt, however, that the proceedings^ of the Lower 
House were far more interesting than those of the 
Upper and they* soon learned that the members of the 
House of Commons did not conduct the affairs of the 
nation in a sort of dumb show. 

It so happened that Lord Randolph Churchill was 
the principal speaker the first time they were listeners 
to a debate in the Lower House. Miss Bayle regarded 
him with special interest. She had heard much about 
him and she knew or assumed that his American wife 
had the credit of stirring him up to display his great 
natural abilities. She had met Lady Randolph at the 
Duke of Windsor’s and she felt a justifiable pride in 
thinking that a fellow-countrywoman had acquired so 
much influence over the course of English politics. 
She felt as much envy as admiration and she longed 
for the opportunity to play the same part. Lord 
Plowden was soon made conscious of this. He was 


212 


M7SS BA VLB’S BOMANCB. 


questioned by her as to the principles and purposes of 
English politicians and he soon regretted that Miss 
Bayle had ever taken an interest in such matters. 

His own views were hazy. His opinion was that a 
politician’s convictions could be ascertained when one 
knew the club of which he was a member. How polit- 
ical principles were formed was an impenetrable mys- 
tery to him. He was a Conservative because his father 
was one ; but, when asked to explain the differ- 
ence between the Liberals and Conservatives he found 
himself as much at sea as if he had started off in a 
yacht to navigate the channel without a pilot. He 
understood by a Radical a man who made himself gen- 
erally disagreeable. He believed, moreover, that Con- 
servatives were good and patriotic men, and Liberals 
perfect monsters of wickedness ; but he could not 
explain, because he did not know, in what consisted 
the distinguishing merits of the one and demerits of 
the other. All he could assure Miss Bayle was that 
the Liberals wished to destroy the crown and constitu- 
tion, and that the Conservatives desired to uphold both. 
Miss Bayle, like most women, had no leaning toward 
revolutionary acts or doctrines ; consequently she be- 
gan to regard English Conservatives as angels of light 
and Liberals as the emissaries or friends of Satan. 

Miss Bayle received two letters from America, the 
one being from her bosom friend Sadie James, the 
Other from her admirer Tom Bates. She answered 
the first in the following terms : 

“ Dearest Sadie: I am almost afraid to begin a let- 
ter to you as I have so much to say that it seems as if I 
should never stop once I began to write. Perhaps 
then I shall write a shorter letter than I might have 
done had I not felt that I should send you too long a 
one. I was real glad to hear from you and to get so 
much Chicago gossip. I was amuSed with what 
you said about Tom Bates. He seems quite 
mad to think that I am having such a good time in 


VISITING PLACES AND PARLIAMENT. 213 

Europe. He has written to me but I have not yet 
made up my mind to send a reply. 

“ I like London, there is always plenty to see and do 
here. Mother and I go somewhere every night ; 
father has given up accompanying us as he has made 
friends with many city people who always want him 
to dine with them and talk business. Some' Ameri- 
cans here gave him a dinner at which mother and I 
were present. It was real fun and some of the speeches 
were quite interesting. I used to think that English- 
men could not speak as well as Americans, but at the 
dinner three Englishmen, Mr. Atlas, Mr. La Salle, and 
Baron Parkhirst spoke beautifully ; mother thought so 
too and you know she is not given to praise the En- 
glish. 

“ I have attended the British Parliament several 
times. They make a great fuss here about admitting 
strangers but I got in the day after I said I wished to 
do so. The House of Lords is a sleepy place, but the 
House of Commons was lively enough. They often 
have what they call ^ scenes ’ there. I saw one be- 
tween Mr. Gladstone and Lord Randolph Churchill. 
You know that Lord , Randolph married one of the 
Miss Jeromes and since his marriage he has become a 
prominent politician here. On the whole I found the 
House of Commons and British politics much more 
amusing than I thought they could be. 

“ I-have had plenty of balls and dinner parties and I 
like the dinners the best in one way. I am generally 
taken in to dinner by some elderly gentleman who has 
either visited America or knows something about it 
and I have a good time. At the balls I dance with 
young men who either seem afraid to speak at all or 
who pay me foolish compliments and say things about 
America which I could not believe if I had not heard 
them. They seem to think that Chicago is a shanty 
city in the backwoods, and that Lake Michigan is like 
one of the pools they call lakes in this country. When I 
tell them that Chicago — which they call ‘ Shycaigo ’ — is 


2I4 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


no more in the backwoods than London, and that En- 
gland could be put into Lake Michigan they stare and 
say that I can not be in earnest. When I first met 
Lord Plowden Eton I thought him very ignorant, but 
since I have met others of his younger countrymen 1 
think he knows far more than I gave him credit for. 
He is the pleasantest Englishman I have yet seen, he 
is so good-natured as well as handsome and is always 
on hand and ready to do anything for mother and me. 

“ We shall soon leave London to visit a place in the 
country called Druid’s Mount which belongs to the 
Duke of Windsor. The Prince of Wales and his 
eldest son are to be there too. Whenever I mention 
to any one that I am going to pay this visit I am told 
how fortunate I am, and both ladies and gentlemen 
seem to envy me. You can not conceive how these 
English people worship the Prince of Wales. They 
appear to think that being in his company is as good as 
being in heaven.” 

The letter of Tom Bates may be summarized. He 
began it with remarks about the reports in the papers 
concerning the Bayle family in Europe, he added the 
insinuation that the flattery Miss Bayle had received 
was turning Miss Bayle’s head. Mr. Bates protested 
against caring for praise and admiration from “ played 
out Europeans ” and avowed that he could not breathe 
except in the free air of America, and especially in the 
Western variety of that air. 

He went on to give Miss Bayle the chance of having 
this happiness again, combined with another form of 
it, in other words he asked her to become his wife and 
settle permanently in the West. He said that he had 
been appointed manager of a branch at Denver of the 
dry goods store in which he had been clerk for several 
years and that his salary would now be five thousand 
dollars. He concluded rather foolishly by assuming 
that Miss Bayle would accept his offer and that they 
would be married soon after her return from Europe. 

Having read the letter, Miss Bayle felt in doubt 


/ 


VtSlTim PLACES AMD PAPL/AA/EMT. 215 


whether to answer it or to give no sign of having 
received it. Her feelings for Tom Bates had under- 
gone several changes. At the outset of their acquaint- 
ance, she had liked him beyond any one she had met 
and her friends regarded her as in love with him. If 
her parents had formally objected to her marrying him 
she would probably have done so, and the union 
would have been considered a love-match. But, hav- 
ing her own way, she was slow in making up her mind. 
The pair saw too much of each other to be always 
harmonious. Though not engaged they quarreled 
about trifles, and it was because they were not engaged 
that their reconciliations were not made easily or with 
good grace. The love was one-sided. 

Miss Bayle did not reciprocate the feelings of Tom 
Bates and his suspicion of this made him frantically 
jealous and absurdly exacting. He was angry when 
he heard of her trip to Europe. She was delighted at 
the prospect and could not understand why he should 
express so great an aversion to her going away. He 
took her departure so much to heart as to excite her 
compassion and make her regard him with kinder 
feelings than she had ever done. He was so much in 
love as to be wanting in tact ; his jealousy of possible 
rivals in Europe made him morbidly suspicious. He 
wished her to promise that she would not even speak 
to any young man during her absence. She resented 
his distrust of her and she used language which 
irritated him. The result was that they quarreled 
more seriously than they had ever done, and she was 
not sorry to part from him. 

He cursed his folly when it was too late to make 
amends in person and he put off doing so in writing 
till he was ashamed to refer to the matter at all. 

When Tom Bates read in the newspapers the para- 
graphs in which Miss Bayle was represented as the 
new beauty from the West who was leading captive 
all hearts in London, he felt convinced that he had 
been perfectly right in calling upon her to agree to a 


2i6 


MISS BA VLB'S ROMANCE. 


self-denying ordinance during her stay in Europe. 
More than once she looked backward with regret upon 
the days when Tom Bates was her devoted admirer 
and, if he had written a letter expressing regret for 
having vexed her, she might have written such a letter 
as would have rendered him a happy man. But the 
tone of his letter asking her to marry him was far too 
imperious to soften her heart. Yet she hesitated to 
return an emphatic “ no ” and she doubted whether 
she ought to allow his proposal to remain unanswered. 
She resolved to hand the letter to her mother and, for 
once in her life since a child, to abide by her mother’s 
decision. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


EXIT TOM BATES. ENTER A WELSH BARD. 

Miss Bayle said, “ I have received 

IVl ^ letter from Tom Bates asking me to marry 
him. Shall I accept him or not ? ” 

Mrs. Bayle was too much astonished at the state- 
ment and request to be able to reply at once. After 
a short pause she merely said, “ Is that so, Almy ? ” 
and then to gain time she continued, “ Does he give 
any Chicago news ? ” 

Her daughter thought the best reply she could make 
was to hand the letter to her mother, saying, “ Here 
is the letter ; read it and then tell me what you think.” 

Mrs. Bayle took the letter and said, “ It is late, 
Almy. I wish to retire — In plain English she wished 
to go to bed — “ I will read it and tell you what I think 
in the morning.” 

“Well, mother,” replied Miss Bayle, “I guo.ss the 
letter can keep. I am in no hurry about answering it 
and that is why I wished for your advice.” 

The mother and daughter met in the morning and 
resumed their conversation. Before they did so Mrs. 
Bayle had talked the matter over with her husband 
and they both felt that the crisis which they long 
dreaded had arrived. They were shrewd, sensible 
parents ; they wished their daughter to be happy ; but 
they were as averse as before to her marrying Tom 
Bates. Still, if marriage with him would insure her 
happiness they would give their consent. Their desire 
was that she should reject him without knowing or 
feeling that it was a sacrifice on her part to their 
wishes, Mr, Bayle was a man of great readiness, re- 


2i8 miss BA YLE'S romance. 

source and nerve when speculating in stocks, shares or 
produce ; but, where his daughter’s welfare was at 
stake he felt himself at a loss how to act. He would 
do any thing to please her. He desired, however, be- 
fore arriving at a decision, to learn what was the state 
of her feelings. 

“Judy,” said Mr. Bayle, “you understand these 
things better than I do ; is Alma in love with Mr. 
Bates ? ” 

“ I wish I knew for certain, Mr. Bayle ; I don’t think 
she is, because if she were I guess she’d not have asked 
my advice, but would have told me she had consented 
to become his wife.” 

“ That’s so, my dear. It’s quite probable that noth- 
ing is settled, and we’d better not say any thing that 
might make her desperate.” 

“ They seem to manage these things quite different 
in Europe. Did I ever tell you what the Countess de 
Flaubard and the Duchess of Windsor said to me about 
Almy ? ” 

“ No. At least I don’t remember your doing so. 
What did they say ? ” 

“ When I met the countess in Paris she told me Almy 
would make an excellent wife for her son. Count Louis, 
and she hoped I would not object to this or to Almy 
becoming a Roman Catholic. I told her that we did 
not arrange marriages in that style in America and that 
the young folks must make up their minds in the first 
place. This surprised her and she said the custom 
was quite different in France, and that she would 
speak to you on the subject when you came to Europe. 
The Duchess of Windsor has also said that her nephew 
Count Louis, would be an excellent husband for Almy ; 
but I told her I could not discuss this, and that if she 
wished to do so she must do it with Almy herself.” 

“ Does Alma like this young count ? ” 

“ Like him ! She seems to think him a greater 
fool than any of the young Englishmen she is always 
laughing at,” 


EXIT TOM BATES. 


219 


“ Then we need not trouble any more about him.” 

“ That’s not so certain. You know we have accepted 
an invitation to Druid’s Mount, and I heard from the 
duchess yesterday that her sister the countess is to be 
one of the guests and is very anxious to make your 
acquaintance. I guess she means to talk about this 
marriage.” 

“ She may talk as much as she pleases, but she’ll find 
I don’t take any stock in it. When you see Almy 
you’d better try and find out what she wishes and let 
her know we are ready to agree to any thing that will 
please her.” 

Mrs. Bayle followed her husband’s advice which 
proved to be both sagacious and fitted for the emer- 
gency. “ Well, Almy,” was her greeting, “ I’ve read 
Tom Bates’s letter. He seems to count upon your 
marrying him. You can’t back out.” 

‘‘ He may count as much as he likes, mother ; but 
he has forgotten that two are required to make a bar- 
gain. I don’t hanker after him as much as he sup- 
poses.” 

Mrs. Bayle was delighted to hear this, and she had 
the tact not to make her feelings too conspicuous, lest 
her daughter should change her mind out of that con- 
tradiction to which all young girls and some old ones 
are prone. So she simply replied, You know, Almy, 
that your father and I are anxious you should 
please yourself. All the advice I can give you is to 
send some answer by the first mail. If you don’t, 
Tom Bates will suppose you agree to his proposition, 
but hesitate to say so at once.” 

This had not occurred to Miss Bayle. She did not 
like to write a refusal and she thought that by leaving 
the letter unanswered she would be spared that neces- 
sity. Her mother’s hint opened her eyes to a possible 
consequence which she had not foreseen. She thanked 
her mother and said, “ Guess I’ll send an answer right 
away.” Taking a pen and piece of paper, she wrote 
a note which will not occupy too much space if given 


220 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


in full : “ Dear Tom, I am glad to hear you are 

going to Denver and that you have got such a good 
place. I suppose you will soon be a partner. I be- 
lieve the young ladies in Denver are quite as pretty as 
those in Chicago, and I have no doubt you will soon 
meet with one who will make you a better wife than 
me. I have no thoughts of marriage and I do not 
know when I shall return to America, as father and 
mother talk of spending a long time in Europe. Let- 
ters sent to the address I gave you will find me where- 
ever I am ^nd I shall be glad to hear from you again 
when you are married.” She handed the note to her 
mother who read it with a satisfaction which she did 
not manifest by any speech, simply remarking, “ I 
guess that will fix him, Almy.” The note was sent to 
the post, and Tom Bates read and survived it ; but 
Miss Bayle never had another letter from him. On 
receiving her letter he pronounced her unworthy to be 
his wife. He consoled himself by marrying in haste 
with the usual result. 

The London season was nearing that stage when 
every one who can afford to leave town feels it a 
grievance to remain. But so long as Parliament sits, 
many persons have to suffer discomfort in London in- 
stead of enjoying themselves elsewhere. Not unfre- 
quently the end of the season is more festive than the 
beginning or middle ; the revelers, though fewer in 
number, enjoy themselves with the energy of despair. 
Besides, the large professional class seldom gets a 
holiday till the middle of August, so that there are 
always plenty of persons to accept the invitations 
which are issued by those who, being compelled to re- 
main in London, try to soften their fate by entertain- 
ing their friends and acquaintances. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bayle and their daughter knew noth- 
ing of the irrational rules which govern the London 
season, nor had they any reason to complain of their 
lot. They continued to have more invitations to 
dinner and evening parties than they could accept and 


EXIT TOM BA TES. 


221 


they felt and agreed that they were having “ a good 
time.” The hot weather did not incommode them. 
They thought the air cool by comparison with what 
they had experienced in Chicago and New York. 

The chief difficulty they had in forming their plans 
for the summer was to decide what invitations to re- 
ject. They were asked to many country seats, one of 
the most pressing invitations being from Baron Park- 
hirst, who was anxious to let them see a new scene 
and a new form of life at his comfortable mansion in 
Wales. When giving the invitation he had intimated 
as an inducement to accept it, that he would introduce 
them to some Welsh bards who were to visit him with 
a view of practicing for the Gorsedd which was to 
take place in London and at which the bards were to 
stand on tall stones and make a proclamation to the 
accompaniment of harps. Addressing Miss Bayle he 
remarked : “ Perhaps you may not know that I, too, 

am a bard and the first Englishman who has achieved 
that proud distinction.” 

You don’t say, baron ! ” was her reply, adding, 
“ but are you in real earnest, or indulging in what your 
folks call chaff, which is a thing I don’t quite under- 
stand ? ” 

“ I am always in earnest. Miss Bayle, and you be- 
hold in me a genuine though humble bard with an 
official title which not one of my English friends has 
yet been able to pronounce.” 

“ Then you must sing and also play on the 
harp ? ” 

I fear that my singing days are over and I cer- 
tainly find the harp a difficult instrument ; still, I hope 
to play my part in the ceremony, as I manage the lan- 
guage pretty well with the exception of the pronunci- 
ation.” 

‘‘Well, I declare ! that’s just like me and French. 
Before I left Chicago I spoke French perfectly, and 
when I first tried it in Europe I could not make my- 
self understood and I could not follow other people 


222 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


as they spoke so fast ; but I get on better now. Per- 
haps you want practice in your Welsh.” 

“ But, baron,” interposed Mrs. Bayle, who had lis- 
tened with her usual' patience, “bards are called 
tramps in our country and we think them of no ac- 
count. I have always looked on you as a high-toned 
gentleman.” 

“ Mother, you are quite wrong about these bards,” 
said Miss Bayle rather .snappishly, “a tramp is a beg- 
gar and a bard is one of the people who discovered 
the mistletoe in this country. The bards were like 
the priests in the Old Testament and very prominent 
men.” 

“ I think. Miss Bayle,” the baron mildly explained, 
“ you have slightly confounded the bards and the 
Druids, unless you fancy as some learned persons do. 
that they are one and the same, and I have no doubt 
they would both have enjoyed the form of worship 
under the mistletoe which is practiced nowadays.” 

“ Don’t you feel it rather cold in your bard’s dress ? 
In pictures it looks like that of our Indians, which is 
merely paint and a blanket. Now I think of it, you 
must be playing 'a joke on me. Where’s your long 
white beard ? A bard without one must be a 
fraud.” 

“ Let me assure you there is no restriction as to 
clothes and that modern bards never perform in un- 
dress and also that the white beards are worn by the 
oldest bards only, while I am one of the youngest. 
However, if your father, mother and yourself come to 
my house in Wales, I shall be able to explain every 
thing there.” 

Here Miss Bayle appealed to her father to give his 
consent, saying, “ I should love to go to Wales, father, 
and see these bards and hear them sing their beauti- 
ful Welsh songs ; ” to which he replied, “ I am very 
sorry, Alma, but I can’t fix it no how. I have prom- 
ised the Duke of Windsor to spend a week at Druid’s 
Mount and my physician wishes me to go abroad im- 


F 


EXIT TOM BATES. 223 

mediately afterward. However, we may visit the 
baron some other time.” 

Mr. Bayle had been obliged to consult a London 
physician, who urged him to avoid excitement, and 
advised him to try a course of the Homburg waters 
which seemed to be indicated in his case. Since he 
had frequented the city and resumed his career of 
speculation some serious symptoms had recommenced, 
and he felt more out of sorts than he had ever done 
because he had grown nervous about himself. A man 
who, being ill, is in terror lest he should grow worse, 
unconsciously but surely aggravates his malady and 
renders its cure more difficult. 

One of the entertainments which Mr. and Mrs. 
Bayle and her daughter attended before leaving Lon- 
don was the finest at which they had ever been present. 
It was given in their honor by Baron Parkhirst, who 
combined on this occasion all the gorgeousness of dis- 
play in which a Hungarian magnate delights, with the 
warm-hearted hospitality of a true-born Englishman. 
Richmond was the appropriate scene of the festivity. 
The baron belonged to a club there which permits its 
members to entertain ladies as well as gentlemen. 
The novelty of dining at a club pleased the ladies, 
while the gentlemen much preferred club comforts 
to the factitious luxury of any hotel. 

It was the pride of Baron Parkhirst to attend to 
detail in all things and, in giving this entertainment, 
he was mindful of his practice. He was determined 
that his guests should enjoy themselves if that could 
be effected by any thing in his power. He hired a 
steamer to convey them to Richmond, and had it deco- 
rated for the occasion. He engaged the guard’s band 
to play sweet music during the trip. He ordered a 
choice luncheon to be laid out in the saloon. Every 
guest received a small bouquet when stepping on 
board. The steamer reached Richmond two hours 
before dinner. Open carriages were provided for the 


224 


MISS BA VLE'S BOMAMCE. 


guests to drive in the park during that interval. The 
dinner itself was perfect. 

As the moon shone brightly when the party returned 
to Charing Cross pier by water, the trip back was the 
more enjoyable. No representative of the American 
press being among the guests, a detailed record of 
the proceedings is not to be found in print. The 
public learned, however, from the World of the follow- 
ing week that the entertainment had taken place ; the 
paragraph, though short, contained all that was neces- 
sary to say. It ran thus : Baron Parkhirst sur- 
passed himself last Saturday. He had a party of the 
leading actors, actresses, artists and men of letters to 
meet Miss Bayle, the American beauty of the season. 
Though the invitation was to dine at Richmond the 
entertainment began on board a special steamer which 
started from Charing Cross pier. It ended where, it 
began. Dancing went on during the return journey, 
and the baron, though no longer in his first youth, was 
the envy and admiration of younger men. Miss Bayle 
paid him the compliment of saying, ‘ Baron, you dance 
as well as an American ! ’ Our versatile fellow-coun- 
tryman replied, ‘ How could I do otherwise when 
dancing with one so attractive.’ When the party sepa- 
rated on returning to Charing Cross pier. Miss Bayle 
spoke the sentiments of others as well as her own when 
she told Baron Parkhirst, ‘ I must say that I have never 
had a more lovely time.’ ” 




/ 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

RUPERT Wentworth’s despair. 

M r. RUPERT WENTWORTH left Monte Carlo 
in a frame of mind which it is easier to imagine 
than to depict. He had received a knock-down blow 
and he could not understand why. A man in love is 
as apt as a man about to commit a murder to omit 
some contingency from his calculations, and the 
omission often leads in the one case to the loss of his 
lady-love, and in the other of his life. 

Mr. Wentworth was prepared for every thing save 
M. Pessac’s objection, on the ground of his nation- 
ality, to have him for a son-in-law. Had he foreseen 
this he would either have tried to propitiate him be- 
fore declaring love for his daughter, or else he would 
never have made up his mind to marry her. Formerly 
it appeared doubtful whether he were really in love. 
There could be less question of the fact now. He 
thought and could think of nothing else than Elsa 
Pessac. To his mind she appeared more charming 
and desirable than ever. Since finding it hopeless to 
obtain her hand, the one wish of his heart was to 
make her his wife. 

He traveled from Monte Carlo to Heidelberg and 
took up his abode in the rooms wherein he had for- 
merly been happier than at any other stage of his career. 
About twenty years had passed away since he saw 
Heidelberg for the first time. He was then a young 
American to whom Europe was a new continent. 
Every thing was novel and nearly every thing was 
interesting. Though out of health and spirits when 
he became a student at Heidelberg, he soon recovered 


226 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


both and also found delight in a life of study. He 
met with congenial companions. He was fortunate 
also in having an ideal to aim at, and a belief in his 
power of attaining it. America was to hail in his per- 
son a philosopher who would be the equal of any one 
of whom the Old World boasted. 

Now, however, this ideal had ceased to attract, and 
his capacity for attaining it appeared to have gone. 
He was mentally and physically prostrated. The 
world had become hateful, because he looked upon it 
with changed eyes. A retrospect of the past neither 
soothed nor satisfied him : on the contrary, it recalled 
opportunities neglected and departed. Worst of all, 
the future appeared devoid of light or hope. 

He tried to resume the course of study which had 
formerly absorbed his attention and made him forget 
his cares and sorrows, but the old books had no longer 
their old charm. Macaulay, in his Essay on Bacon, has 
expanded into a very pretty paragraph the notion that 
books are the friends of which one never wearies, 
that they are the “ old friends who are never seen 
with new faces, who are the same in wealth and in 
poverty, in glory and in obscurity ; ” but the frame of 
mind with which a book is read is the condition to be 
taken into account when the value or influence of a 
book is estimated. There was no change in the books 
to which Mr. Wentworth turned for relief and refresh- 
ment, but they appeared to him quite different and un- 
satisfying. He laid them down with a sigh. Had he 
been unaltered, he would have pored over them with 
the assiduity and interest of by-gone days. 

Even external nature had lost much of its power to 
please him. He retrod his favorite walk, called the 
Philosopher’s Road, without seeing any thing to ad- 
mire. He walked to the Angels’ Meadow and returned 
to his rooms dissatisfied. He went to the castle and 
gazed upon the valley of the Neckar without being 
impressed with the beauty of the prospect. He ar- 
rived at the conclusion that Heidelberg was ruined by 


RUPERT WENTWORTH'S DESPAIR. 


227 


the alterations which had been made since he saw it 
for the first time. 

He had a plausible reason for arriving at the con- 
clusion. The ancient university town has become a 
place where factories for the production of cement, 
soap and liquors are in operation all the year and 
where sight-seers abound in the summer. A proces- 
sion of tourists moves every summer’s day between 
the railway station and the castle the tourist allows 
himself an hour or two to see the place and departs 
satisfied with a rapid scamper up to the castle and 
back to the train. For those who make a longer stay 
the hotel accommodation is very large, the most 
beautiful sites having been desecrated by hotels. Yet 
these changes and others do not really affect the stu- 
dent-life of the town, nor do they give offense to those 
who are ignorant of the good old times. 

It was Mr. Wentworth’s craze, in his morbid frame 
of mind, to regard what displeased him as a personal 
injury. The truth is he had wasted his life. He had 
no one to consider but himself. Whatever suited him 
he did, and he left undone what was not to his liking. 
For the first time he had received a serious and unfore- 
seen rebuff. He was unhinged by this and he was the 
more affected because the obstacle to his union with 
Mile. Elsa had made him love her more cordially than 
he did when his course seemed to him an easy one, and 
when he fancied that he had but to say the word in 
order to bring her to his feet. His one chance was to 
go away from all old associations and to seek in entire 
change of scene and occupation a relief from the pas- 
sion which consumed him. But lovers, like moths, are 
fond of hovering round the fatal flame. 

Not long after he reached Heidelberg and when 
worrying himself about what he should do next, he 
found at the post-offlce a note from Lord Plowden 
Eton. The latter did not know where Mr. Wentworth 
was, and he had sent his note to his London bankers, 
by whom it was forwarded to the Heidelberg post- 


228 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


office. Lord Plowden was not a Horace Walpole ; he 
never wrote a letter if he could avoid doing so, and 
when he did write, he said not a word more than was 
absolutely necessary. This is no drawback in a letter- 
writer and it has the advantage of allowing his epistles 
to be given in full. Before copying what Lord Plow- 
den wrote it is right to premise that he was wholly 
ignorant of Mr. Wentworth’s love-making and of what 
he had done since parting from him at Monte Carlo : — 
“ Dear Wentworth, I hope you have not forgotten me 
and I can assure you I should greatly like to see you 
again. When we meet you shall have all my news. I 
am anxious that we should meet very soon at Hom- 
burg, where I am going to keep the Bayles company. 
The prince will be there, too, and I think we shall 
have what your fair countrywoman calls ‘ a good time.’ 
I am not sure whether you Bostonians approve of the 
phrase, but if you do not, pray forgive me for using it. 
We shall be at the Victoria. Try and be there about 
the end of August.” 

Mr. Wentworth’s first thought after reading these 
few lines was to write saying that he could not pos- 
sibly visit Homburg. His second thought was that 
M. Pessac and his daughter would have left it before 
the end of August, and he had a desire to meet Lord 
Plowden again and a slight curiosity to make the 
acquaintance of Mr. Bayle, of whom he had heard 
much as the last addition to the millionaires of the 
Far West. Accordingly he replied in the following 
concise strain : “ I have been greatly occupied since I 

saw you. I am doubtful about being able to visit 
Homburg, but if I go there it will be at the end of 
August. I shall look you up at the Victoria.” 

While Mr. Wentworth was finding life burdensome at 
Heidelberg, M. Pessac and his daughter were staying 
in the Hdtel de France at Homburg. M. Pessac was 
nearly as much discomposed as Mr. Wentworth, though 
he had no misadventure in love to deprive him of his 
peace of mind. He had told his sister of Mr. Went- 


RUPERT WENTWORTH'S DESPAIR. 229 

worth’s proposal and of his reply, and he was aston- 
ished to find that his sister entirely disapproved of his 
conduct. Mile. Pessac was surprised to learn that 
Mr. Wentworth desired to marry her niece, having 
never thought that he entertained any feelings of 
affection for her, and having supposed that she had 
been the sole object of his attention, not with a view 
to marriage, but because her opinions on most subjects 
were in unison with his. Had she been a mother, she 
would have rejoiced to have him for a son-in-law. 

“ What ! ” was her exclamation when her brother 
informed her of his having told Mr. Wentworth that 
he would not consent to his daughter’s marrying a 
foreigner, “ do you call Mr. Wentworth a foreigner ? 
He is quite different from the English. The Ameri- 
cans are French in feeling ; they know that we made 
them independent of England. Besides, Mr. Went- 
worth hates the Germans and I don’t think that he 
loves the English. I am sure he would make a capital 
husband for Elsa.” 

“ Surely, my dear sister,” was his reply, “ you have 
always told me that you hated foreigners and you never 
approved of my getting a wife in Germany even though 
she was of French parentage.” 

“ That’s a different matter,” was her womanly and 
illogical retort. “ I should always object to Elsa’s mar- 
rying a German ; but Mr. Wentworth has lived so 
long in France and speaks French so well, that he 
seems like one of ourselves. Now you tell me this, 
I feel certain Elsa would gladly marry him.” 

“ Has she told you .so ? ” was his quick remark, a re- 
mark made under the apprehension that love-making 
had gone on between his daughter and Mr. Wentworth, 
a thing which Mr. Wentworth had solemnly assured 
him had never occurred. 

“ No, my dear brother, Elsa has never mentioned 
the subject to me. She knows too well that her duty is 
to accept the man whom you choose for her husband ; 
but I am quite sure that, if you told her you had chosen 


230 


MISS BA YLE'S BOMANCE, 


Mr, Wentworth, she would have been delighted. 
Poor little dear, I am sorry for her.” 

M. Pessac said no more. He was nearly as^ much 
annoyed and surprised as Mr. Wentworth when his offer 
to marry Elsa had been unconditionally rejected. 

When Mile. Pessac saw her niece shortly after this 
conversation with her brother, she rather imprudently 
said : “ Well, little one, you will not see your American 
any more.” 

“ Indeed ! ” exclaimed Elsa. “ Has any thing hap- 
pened to him ? ” 

“ Only this, that your father has refused to allow 
him to marry you and he is gone away in a state of 
despair.” 

“ Marry me ! ” Elsa cried, “ is it possible that he 
wished to do so ? I always thought he liked you far 
better than me.” And then giving way to her feelings 
she threw herself into her aunt’s arms and said as well 
as she could between her sobs, “ Oh ! dearest aunt, I 
love him, and now I shall never see him again.” 

Mile. Pessac did her best to console her niece. She 
was highly flattered to find that her niece supposed Mr. 
Wentworth to have admired her ; but, as she had known 
what a love-sorrow was, she was all the more ready to 
sympathize with her niece’s disappointment. She 
begged her not to say any thing to her father and she 
assured her that she would do her best to make him 
change his mind in the event of Mr.Wentworth’s giving 
him the opportunity. Mile. Pessac did not really antici- 
pate that such an occasion would occur ; but when con- 
solation has to be administered, hard facts must be soft- 
ened or kept out of sight. When Mile. Pessac parted 
with her brother and niece and went on her way to 
Bordeaux, her niece felt a warmer love for her aunt 
than she had ever done before. 

At first M. Pessac neither noticed any alteration 
in his daughter nor fancied that she had been in- 
formed of Mr. Wentworth’s proposal. Yet his daughter 
was greatly changed in thought and feeling. Mr. 


RUPERT WENTWORTFTS DESPAIR. 231 


Wentworth had become her ideal ; she regarded him 
as Desdemona regarded Othello. Till she made his 
acquaintance the outer world was an unknown land to 
her ; she knew that America was an important part of 
the world, but she had the idea, in which she was not 
singular, that American gentlemen;differed from French- 
men, not in speech only, but in their physical appear- 
ance and their manners. To make the acquaintance of 
one who was polite in manner, pleasant in speech and 
far better informed than any Frenchman with whom 
she had conversed was a revelation to her. 

In the course of Mr. Wentworth’s short acquaintance 
with Mile. Elsa he had told her more that was curious 
and entertaining than she had learned from any one 
else in the whole course of her life. He had been in 
battles and sieges, as well as in strange countries, and 
a French girl has an instinctive liking for a soldier. 
It is true that Mr. Wentworth never boasted of his 
brief military career ; indeed, he was not given to 
boasting ; he had seen and read too much not to have 
become so critical as to be the reverse of a braggart. 
The merest chance caused him to inform Mile. Elsa 
that he had practical acquaintance of soldiering. One 
day as they were seated on the terrace before their 
house in the Rue du Tribunal the army of Monaco 
passed along the road ; the rank and file did not num- 
ber more than one company of an American regiment. 
The men looked as well adapted for actual fighting as 
any mimic army on the . stage. The uniforms were 
beautiful, far too beautiful to be soiled in battle. 

“ How I love soldiers ! ” exclaimed Mile. Elsa. 

“ You are quite right, my darling,” was the response 
of her aunt, who had been attracted to the spot by the 
sound of martial music. “What do you think, M. 
Wentworth ?” she remarked, and then she added, I 
believe you have no army in America.” 

“ Mademoiselle,” he replied, “ our army may be 
small ; but it is a good deal larger than this one. I fear 
you have been as misinformed about our army as you 


232 J//SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

were about our railroads and our bread. Perhaps you 
remember telling me you had heard at Bordeaux that 
railroads were almost unknown in America and white 
bread was never seen there. During the war our army 
was large enough ; when I joined it there were a mil- 
lion of men under arms.” 

“You have been a soldier, then, M. Wentworth ! ” 
she exclaimed, thinking the . better of him on that 
account. 

In answer to further questions he told her how he 
had gone to fight for the unity of his country, making 
very light of what he had done. Both the ladies felt 
confident that he had been a greater hero than he 
would allow. Once or twice Mile. Elsa recurred to 
the subject and learned from him the meaning of the 
great war in which he had played a small part. All 
this knowledge was used by her to elevate Mr. Went- 
worth into a sort of demi-god. If her own consent 
had sufficed and if she had been given the opportunity. 
Mile. Elsa would soon have become Mr. Wentworth's 
wife. 

Mile. Elsa had long looked forward to revisiting 
Homburg and she was anxious to see her grandfather 
again, having preserved a very pleasant memory of 
him from the days of her childhood. But her spirits 
did not rise as Homburg was reached and her anticipa- 
tions were about to be fulfilled. She could think of 
nothing but Mr. Wentworth ; her father noticed that 
she had become gradually more pensive and did his 
best to cheer her. He fancied that the thought of her 
mother might recur to her with increased force, as it 
had done to him ; but the topic being a painful one, 
he forbore talking to her about it. 

Herr Cosse, his father-in-law, gave him a hearty 
welcome at the Homburg railway station and appeared 
delighted to embrace his granddaughter. 

“ What a charming little girl you have brought back 
to me, and how like her mother ! ” was his first remark 
to his son-in-law. He went on to say how glad he was 


RUPERT WENTWORTirS DESPAIR. 233 

they had come, that his health was breaking fast, and 
that he had left Friedrichsdorf for the present and 
occupied rooms at the Hdtel de France in order to take 
a course of mineral waters. M. Pessac found accom- 
modation in the same hotel, and thus he had ample 
opportunities for conversing with his father-in-law. 
He thought it his duty to tell him about the proposal 
of Mr. Wentworth. “What does Elsa say?” was the 
question put by Herr Cosse. 

“ I have not mentioned it to her ; but I am inclined 
to think from her manner since leaving Monaco that 
she suspects something. She does not look well, poor 
thing, and she is not nearly so lively as she used to 
be.” 

“ I think you had better take her to a doctor here ; 
the waters may do her good. I thought her looking 
very pale and weak when I saw her at the railway sta- 
tion ; but I supposed this might be owing to the fa- 
tigue of the journey. Leave the other matter to me. I 
will try to find out what her feelings are with regard 
to this American.” 

The doctor pronounced Mile. Elsa to be wanting in 
“ tone,” a very safe statement, as the same thing may 
be said of most girls of her age. He said, however, 
that she would soon get perfectly strong if she drank 
two glasses of the Luisen Brunnen every morning and 
one glass of the Ludwig every afternoon. She followed 
this treatment without regaining her appetite or her 
spirits. Mineral waters will remove some real and 
many imaginary maladies ; but they have never yet 
cured or alleviated love-sickness. Her father watched 
her with anxiety and a secret dread lest she should 
pine away as her mother did. Her grandfather ques- 
tioned her as to the state of her heart and he spoke 
in so sympathetic a strain that she responded by mak- 
ing a frank disclosure of her feelings and desires. 

Herr Cosse thus learned that his granddaughter 
was deeply in love with Mr. Wentworth. He wished 
to know what sort of a man Mr. Wentworth was and 


234 


MISS BA YLE’S ROMANCE, 


he told M. Pessac that he should be pleased if he could 
be persuaded to visit Homburg. M. Pessac felt a 
delicacy in preferring such a request to Mr. Wentworth, 
and it was not till his sister had written to him saying 
that his brother near Bordeaux thought a match be- 
tween his daughter and Mr. Wentworth would bean 
excellent one, that he did what his father-in-law sug- 
gested. In France, more than in any other country, 
a man marries a family when he takes a wife, and, 
when a marriage is in contemplation, the members of 
the young lady’s family circle consider they have a 
right to make their wishes respected. When M. Pessac 
found that his brother and sister disapproved of his 
rejection of Mr. Wentworth’s suit, and that his father- 
in-law agreed with them, he felt that he was in the 
wrong and he resolved to make all the amends in his 
power. The letter he wrote was a short one and to 
the effect that he hoped Mr. Wentworth could make it 
convenient to visit Homburg before he left it, that he 
was anxious to introduce him to his daughter’s grand- 
father who greatly admired Americans and was long- 
ing to make his acquaintance. The last phrase was 
pure fiction, resembling many phrases in complimen- 
tary notes. He concluded by saying that he was spe- 
cially anxious to renew his last conversation with Mr. 
Wentworth in order to correct some misunderstanding 
which might then have occurred. The meaning of M. 
Pessac’s note could not be obscure, to one far less 
acute than Mr. Wentworth. Though forwarded to the 
address which he had given M. Pessac in case of the 
latter requiring to write about his son, this note did 
not reach Mr. Wentworth till its contents had ceased 
to have any immediate interest for him. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


at^druid’s mount. 

T he Bayle family resolved to visit a few places of 
interest on their way to Druid’s Mount. It is 
not necessary to follow them in their wanderings and 
to describe their adventures ; the places they visited 
are well known and of adventures they had none more 
exciting than missing the train on one occasion through 
trusting to a time-table which was out of date. They 
first went to the Isle of Wight ; thence to Torquay, 
Dartmouth and Falmouth, and from Falmouth they 
journeyed without stopping to Druid’s Mount. 

Though Lord Plowden Eton did not accompany 
them yet he was not forgotten, as Mrs. Bayle and her 
daughter repeatedly exclaimed, “ If Lord Plowden 
were here he would soon fix it,” and then they fully 
recognized how serviceable he had been to them. Mr. 
Bayle was soon wearied and out of humor. He found 
nothing to interest him. Besides, his health did not 
improve. The energy with which he had entered 
upon a speculative career in the city was now followed 
by lassitude and a persistent feeling that something 
was seriously wrong with him. He was peevish and 
irritable by day and restless all the night. His wife 
grew very uneasy about him and was anxious that he 
should go as soon as possible and drink the Homburg 
waters which a London physician had recommended. 

Two days after they arrived at Druid’s Mount, Miss 
Bayle wrote to Sadie James and gave the following 
account of her parents and herself : “ We are in the 
strangest place you ever thought of. It is very old 


236 MISS BA YLE^S ROMANCE. _ \ 

and people come to see it on that account. It is 
called Druid’s Mount because, I suppose, the Druids 
once lived here. The house is on the top of a hill and 
seems like what the castle at Nice must have been in 
olden times ; this hill is separated from the mainland 
when the tide is full, that is for eight hours out of the 
twenty-four. The house has been recently added to 
and no two rooms are alike in any way. Father does 
not like it at all. He says if he had the place he 
would build a bridge so as to enable one to go back- 
ward and forward at any time and he would get rid of 
the ruins and put a comfortable modern house in its 
place. The English people have no notion of pulling 
down an old building. They seem, on the contrary, 
to like it all the better when it is very rickety and un- 
comfortable. 

“ I was sorry to leave London as I got to like it 
better every day. We were out somewhere every 
night ; but I was told that a few days after we left 
there would be absolutely nothing going on. The , 
finest of all the entertainments was given by Baron I 
Parkhirstwho is nearly as good-looking as Lord Plow- 
den and seems to know every thing and every body i; 
and has a great admiration for America and, I "must 
say, is most attentive to me. 'To prevent any mistake 
I may tell you he is married and has a large family. 

We went to Richmond in a steamer and dined at a 
club there of which the baron is a member. We had 
lunch going and a dance as we came back ; the baron 
danced divinely. He knows all the Hungarian as 
well as the English dances and I was told that he is a 1 
splendid dancer of the ‘ Highland Fling ’ ; I asked him 1 
to show me what it was like, but he said that he made 
a point of dressing for every part and that he never 1* 
danced the ‘ Highland Fling ’ unless he had a Scotch \i 
dress on. I have seen some Highland soldiers and 
they seem in full uniform to have forgotten to put 
on some of their clothes. 

“ I told you, I think, that I was disappointed not to 


AT DRUID'S MOUNT, 


237 


have met Mr. William ‘Black at Brighton. I told the 
baron of this and he at once asked me if there were 
any other celebrities I should like to meet. I said there 
were heaps, and when he asked me to specify some I 
named Mr. James Payn and Mr. Irving. Both were 
at the entertainment and I had plenty of talk with 
them. I have often seen Mr. Irving on the stage, but 
I liked him even better in private. He is bright and 
lively as is Mr. Payn, who kept telling me stories that 
made me laugh till I cried and were quite good enough 
to put in print and I was sorry there was no reporter 
to take them down. The English do not care for hav- 
ing reporters present on all occasions ; they seem to 
think it right to keep all the good things to themselves. 
When we went for a picnic, didn’t we jump for joy 
when a notice of it appeared in the paper next day ? 
The English say they don’t like that sort of thing. 

“ Before coming here we went to the Isle of Wight, 
which is real pretty and then we went to Torquay, 
Dartmouth and Falmouth. The country in all these 
parts is very beautiful. I never saw such fine flowers ; 
every little cottage has a garden filled with them. Our 
Western people don't care for flowers as much as the 
English, nor are our flowers on such a large scale. I 
have seen fuchsias quite six feet high and some of the 
cottages are covered with geraniums. They say it is 
very mild here even in winter, and that roses and mig- 
nonnette bloom in the open air all the year round. *1 
am called away to go for a drive with the Prince of 
Wales, so I must reserve other news till I can write 
again.” 

The Bayle family preserved their equanimity during 
the visit of the Prince of Wales and his eldest son. In- 
deed, they were quite insensible of being honored in 
an exceptional way. Even the duke and duchess felt 
greatly elated at having two members of the royal 
family under the roof of Druid’s Mount. The duke’s 
father had entertained the queen and Prince Albert 
there, but with that exception no royal personage had 


238 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


been an inmate of it since it afforded a temporary asy- 
lum to Charles II. Nearly all the other guests were 
proud of being in the same house as the Prince of 
Wales and his eldest son, with the exception of the 
Countess de Flaubard, who had no curiosity to see the 
prince, being in the habit of doing so whenever he 
visited Paris ; but she was most anxious to meet and 
make a favorable impression upon Mr. Bayle. Both 
she and her husband had agreed that Miss Bayle must 
become the wife of their son Count Louis. 

The prince was desirous that his son should see 
some of the wonders of thewestern coast of England ; 
they had previously visited what was most worthy of 
notice along the southern coast. A series of excur- 
sions had been planned ; the first was to the Land’s 
End add the party was on the point of setting off 
when Miss Bayle, being summoned from her writing 
desk, abruptly ended the letter to her friend Sadie 
James. 

It was the prince’s desire that his visit should be 
treated as strictly private, and that he should be al- 
lowed to go about with as great freedom as on his own 
estate of Sandringham. In compliance with his wish 
nothing was said of his visit beforehand, and he had 
been at Druid’s Mount half the time he intended to 
stay before it became generally known in the neigh- 
borhood that he was there. The excursions were made 
without any formality. All that the curious public saw 
were three private carriages being driven along the 
road and this sight was too commonplace to attract 
notice. The Prince of Wales, the duke and duchess 
and Miss Bayle occupied the first carriage ; Prince Al- 
bert Victor, or as some prefer to style him. Prince Ed- 
ward, the Countess de Flaubard, Mr. and Mrs. Bayle 
occupied the second, while the third contained those 
who are expected to attend great personages when 
they take walks or drives. 

As the day appointed for an excursion to the Land’s 
End proved lovely the drive thither and back was 


AT DRUID'S MOUNT, 


239 


most enjoyable. The scene is one which can never 
be forgotten if beheld when the weather is at its best ; 
it is one also which can not adequately be described 
by the most cunning artists in words. Such a com- 
bination of wild scenery and luxuriant vegetation is 
not to be found elsewhere. ^ The trees are stunted, 
chiefly owing to creeping plants and lichens covering 
their trunks and branches and, so to speak, stifling 
their growth. Where hedgerows should be seen, are 
long slabs of stone or mounds of earth ; it is only after 
careful investigation that the mass is perceived to have 
stone or earth for a nucleus, so thickly is the stone 
clad with verdure and the earth covered with plants 
and flowers. Vast stretches of barren looking land 
extend on either hand, yet this dreary moorland is 
brightened at intervals with patches of Erica vaganSy 
a purple heath which will not grow where the air is 
keen, which is to Cornwall what the heather is to 
Scotland and which is to be found in great luxuriance 
and beauty on the shores of Western England and 
those of the Mediterranean. 

When the sun shines brightly the scene is enchant- 
ing ; but a more desolate and dispiriting one when 
the mist-laden air is swept along before the Atlantic 
blasts, can not be imagined. Even the grandeur of 
the granite-bound coast is then lost to the spectator, a 
still and clear day being required to distinguish the 
outlines of the massive rocks which buttress the isle. 
The fine weather enabled the party to enjoy a glimpse 
of Scilly on the distant horizon. It is but seldom that 
the outline of the islands which form the Scilly archi- 
pelago can be clearly discerned ; but, when visible, it 
is quite as striking a spectacle as the outline of the 
Alps when seen from Berne or of the Pyrenees when 
seen from Pau. 

Miss Bayle was familiar with the lines of Lord 
Tennyson describing the fabled battle fought by King 
Arthur on that sweet land of Lyonesse ” which is 
now supposed to lie beneath the sea. She was able to 


240 MISS BA YLES ROMANCE. 

quote some of the poet’s lines and the enthusiasm with 
which she gazed upon the spectable before her was 
deep and unfeigned. The prince had met and admired 
many charming Americans ; but Miss Bayle was the 
first who displayed perfect acquaintance with the poet 
laureate’s writings. Perhaps it was as well that she 
was not too rigorously examined. The passage about 
King Arthur was' one in the reading-book she used at 
school, which she had been obliged to get by heart. 
The Morte D' Arthur contains upward of three hun- 
dred lines ; Miss Bayle could repeat the first twelve 
only. 

Next day the party visited the Botallack Mine, which 
is a still more curious spectacle than the Land’s End. 
Moreover, the view at Cape Cohiwall, which is not 
far from the mine, is one of the 'most impressive on 
the coast. The prince had visited the mine in 1865 
in company with his wife, so that the sight had no 
novelty for him. Mr. Bayle had seen and gone down 
several mines in Colorado ; but he had never even 
thought it possible that mining could be carried on 
beneath the sea. 

The prince and his son, JVliss Bayle, her father and 
Lord Plowden Eton formed the party which .explored 
the mine ; the others preferred to await their return. 
As regarded sight-seeing the party which went below 
had no great advantage over that which remained 
above ; but the more venturesome persons had the 
strange sensation of moving along a level which ran 
half a mile under the sea, and of hearing a dull boom- 
ing sound overhead as the waves rolled huge stones 
backward and forward or dashed them against each 
other. Miss Bayle’s opinion after she returned to the 
upper air and took off the coarse garment she had 
put on before going down was as follows : “ Well ; 
I’m right glad it’s over. When I went behind the Falls 
of Niagara I vowed I would never do any thing so 
foolish again ; besides, I was nearly deaf for a week 
afterward. Now I don’t mean to go down another 


AT DRUID’S MOUNT. 


241 


mine. It makes one feel like being present at one's 
own funeral.” 

There was no drawback, however, to the enjoyment 
of the Allowing day which was spent in visiting St. 
Ives. The sky was cloudless ; the sea a vast expanse 
of opalescent water unruffled by a breath of air. 
“ Surely,” exclaimed the prince, “ Mr. Brett must have 
had a scene like this in his eye when he painted 
‘ Britannia’s Realm.’ I never s^w any thing more 
beautiful.” None of the Bayles had heard of Mr. 
Brett’s great picture, yet they could not look upon the 
scene before them without delight. Each expressed 
in characteristic phrase the impression which had been 
made. Mrs. Bayle said, “ Ain’t that real pretty now ? ” 
Mr. Bayle said, “ I never before saw water look like 
that,” while Miss Bayle exclaimed, “ Prince ! you 
certainly have some wonderful sights in your country. 
I never saw any thing which recalled more vividly 
some of my dreams of heaven when I was a little girl.” 
Happily the party was not disenchanted by walking 
through the narrow and foul streets of the lower part 
of St. Ives. Luncheon was taken at the Tregenna 
Hotel and, after taking a walk through the grounds 
and along the upper part of the town, the party drove 
back to Druid’s Mount. 

The guests were so highly favored with respect to 
the weather that the third day was as fine as the other 
two, and this was fortunate, because that day had 
been set apart by the duke for an excursion to Scilly. 
In order that the trip might be made in comfort, he 
had hired the same mail steamer The Queen of the Bay 
which plies between Penzance and Scilly on stated 
days. As the crossing takes about five hours it was 
arranged that the party should start early and take 
breakfast on board. Up to the last moment Mrs. 
Bayle hesitated about going. She was afraid of the 
sea. Both the duchess and Countess de Flaubard 
were indifferent sailors also and they, too, would have 
gladly welcomed an excuse for staying behind. The 


242 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


three ladies would have been pleased if it had rained 
in torrents and if the wind had been blowing a gale. 
As it was, however, they were reconciled to their fate. 
The loveliness of the weather averted their fears 
about being uncomfortable. The sea was like a 
mirror ; the sky was without a cloud ; there was not 
enough wind to rustle the leaves on the trees. 

All went well for a time. So long as the steamer 
was pursuing its course through the placid waters of 
Mount’s Bay the motion was too slight to be discern- 
ible by the most sensitive and the whole party met at 
breakfast in the steamer’s small saloon. Each con- 
gratulated the other on the fineness of the day and 
the smoothness of the sea. The old seaman who 
commanded the steamer said that such a day was seen 
once a year only. 

The view of the coast was itself worth the trip. 
Sheltered nooks among the high cliffs, which seemed 
to have been formed to be the abode of peace and 
contentment, were exquisitely beautiful with their 
patches of silver sand running down to the water and 
the dark green vegetation in the background. At the 
Land’s End the real grand'eur of the scene could be 
appreciated in. a way which is quite impossible when it 
is gazed upon from the shore. Not only does one see 
from the deck of a vessel those granite cliffs which 
form the western bulwark of the island, but the view 
of them is far more imposing than any which can be 
had elsewhere. On the right, the reef upon which the 
Longship’s Light-house stands is a spectacle only sur- 
passed by that of the still more exposed rock upon 
which the Wolf Light-house serves as a beacon and a 
warning to the mariner. 

Yet the view did not absorb all the passengers on 
board The Queen of the Bay, Smooth as was the sur- 
face of the sea, there was more motion when the 
Land’s End was passed than some of the lady pas- 
sengers expected or enjoyed. To all appearance the 
water was oil. The ripple formed by the motion of 


AT DRUID’S MOUNT, 


243 


ihe ste^er died away almost as soon as it was 
formedT Beneath the surface, however, there was an 
amount of motion due either to the current running 
along, or to the ground-swell which had succeeded a 
storm, causing the mass of water to undulate in reality 
as a Western prairie does in appearance, and making 
the steamer roll on an apparently tranquil sea as 
greatly as it might have done when the wind was 
blowing strongly and the waves ran high. 

The Duchess of Windsor, the Countess de Flau- 
bard, Mrs. Bayle and others soon retired to the seclu- 
sion of the cabin, where they bitterly regretted having 
set their feet on the steamer and repented their fur- 
ther folly of breakfasting after so doing. Mr. Bayle 
and Lord Plowden Eton felt perfectly comfortable ; 
they sat on the bridge, where they talked and smoked. 
The prince, being a thoroughly seasoned sailor, was in 
his element, keeping up a continuous conversation 
with Miss Bayle, who thoroughly enjoyed herself. 
His son and the duke sat near the bow ; the duke 
thought much, but said little, and he often asked 
Prince Albert Victor whether land was in sight. 

“ What is that ? ” said Miss Bayle to the prince, 
“ surely you do not have black rocks in the middle of 
St. George’s Channel. Besides, the rock seems to 
move.” 

“ You are quite right, Miss Bayle, as to the motion,” 
was the reply'. After looking through his glass the 
prince added, “ That is a shark, not a rock, and it is 
an immensely large one. I have heard that they are 
often found here in pursuit of the shoals of fish which 
run into Mount’s Bay.” 

“ You don’t say ! ” was Miss Bayle’S hurried re- 
joinder ; she added, “ I must go and tell mother ; she 
has often said she would like to see a shark.” Miss 
Bayle hastened to her mother and urged her to come 
on deck in order to see the huge fish. “ Leave me 
alone, Almy,” was her mother’s reply ; she added, “ I 
don’t care for sharks or any thing else. I wish I were 


244 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


at the bottom of the sea. This is far worse than the 
Atlantic.” Though ready to console her mother, Miss 
Bayle’s curiosity was too much aroused to allow of her 
remaining below ; so she rushed on deck just in time 
to see the shark roll round and disappear. 

Nothing else was seen to attract attention, if the 
Wolf and the Longships light-houses be excepted : 
both appearing as monuments amid the deep. That 
the swell was greater than would have been inferred 
from the glassy or rather oily surface of the water was 
evident to anyone who noticed the broad fringe of 
foam at the base of the Wolf Rock. Then the many 
isles of Scilly stood out about the water ; the ground- 
swell ceased as the steamer entered the passage be- 
tween them, and then it moved forward without roll- 
ing from side to side. The ladies who had wished 
themselves at the bottom of the sea a short time ago 
now came on deck and felt glad that dry land was so 
near. 

As the steamer entered the channel leading to St. 
Mary, the largest island in the archipelago of Scilly, 
Miss Bayle called out, “ There’s another shark right 
ahead.” They all gazed upon a dark object which 
seemed like the back of a huge monster projecting 
from the water. The captain being appealed to pro- 
nounced it the Hog’s Back, a sunken rock upon which 
many a vessel has struck and which is an obstacle to 
the safe and easy navigation of the channel. Not long 
afterward the steamer was moored alongside the 
wharf at Hugh Town, the capital of Scilly. 

The duke told the members of the party that they 
had four hours for refreshment and sight-seeing, 
that they would first proceed to Hugh Town hotel to 
take luncheon, then they would see something of the 
island, next cross to Tresco in order to visit the fa- 
mous gardens, abbey and ruins there,'' belonging to the 
Lord of the Isles, and start back early in the evening. 

The Star Fort was the first object they visited ; it 
dates from the reign of Elizabeth and was much 


Ar DR urns MOUNT. 


245 


enlarge#in that of George the Third ; but it has long 
ceased to be garrisoned. Indeed, the principal hotel 
now was the officers’ quarters in former days. Not 
far off* is a tower which is used as a signal station and 
from which a fine view is to be had of the archipelago. 

A- remark having been made by one of the party 
that shipwrecks are frequent occurrences, another 
added that nothing so dreadful had happened since 
Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel’s flagship was wrecked 
and all hands drowned as the loss of ‘the Schiller., 
an American liner. * Mr. Bayle had a friend on board 
the ill-fated ship and no tidings of him were ever 
heard by his family. Many of the other passengers 
were Chicago citizens bound for Europe in order to 
spend the summer there. As both' Mr. Bayle and his 
daughter expressed a desire to see the church-yard in 
which the bodies were buried, the prince said he would 
be glad to go ; accordingly, they proceeded to the spot 
where hundreds of shipwrecked sailors and passengers 
slept their last long sleep. The saddest thing in the 
burying-ground is the array of monuments showing 
where the remains of passengers in the Schiller are 
laid. Upward of three hundred are interred in the 
church-yard, which was enlarged in order to accommo- 
date that number. Saddest of all is the fact that, had 
not gross carelessness been displayed, loss of life would 
have been averted. 

It was with a sigh of relief that the members of the 
party turned away from the mournful spectacle and 
proceeded to the wharf where a steam-launch was in 
waiting to ferry them over to the island of Tresco 
where are the house and gardens of Mr. Dorrien 
Smith, the Lord of the Isles. In less than twenty 
minutes they stepped on that island and proceeded 
toward the entrance to the gardens. The porter 
opened the gate, ushered them into a small room and 
asked them to write their names in a book. The prince 
at once took a pen and wrote his name. As he was 
doing so, Lord Plowden Eton asked the porter if he 


246 M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

knew that the Prince of Wales was one of the party : 
“ Which is he ? ” asked the porter. “ He is now 
writing his name,” was the reply. The porter said 
nothing, waited till the prince had laid down the pen, 
looked at the signature “ Albert Edward ” and said to 
Lord Plowden, “ It is well for you all that the gentle- 
man has not written Prince of Wales, as master has 
ordered that if any one does so the p^ty is not to be 
shown over the grounds.” 

“ But my father, the Duke of Windsor, will tell you 
that he is the prince.” 

“ Then, sir,” continued the porter, addressing the 
duke, “ if you write yourself ‘the duke of any thing I 
can not let you go further, for master says he will not 
have his book disfigured by persons pretending to be 
dukes and princes.” The porter’s remarks gave some 
amusement to the persons referred to in this uncom- 
plimentary way. No one interrupted him. The 
prince drew out his cigarette-case and was about to 
light a cigarette when the porter abruptly said, “ No 
smoking, here. It’s against the rule. My opinion is 
you’re a rum lot calling yourselves princes and dukes 
and beginning to smoke^ without saying, by your leave 

” He was suddenly checked in his harangue by a 

violent ringing of the bell at the lodge door, followed 
by a loud knocking. 

The porter opened the door with the intention of 
using language as strong as his feeling ; but he 
changed his mind on seeing Mr. Dorrien Smith’s 
factor, breathless and agitated : “ Where’s the prince 
and the duke ? ” was the question which the factor 
put as well as his want of breath would al* dw him, 
adding, “ run and hoist the flag.” The porter never 
ran more quickly in his life than he now did ; he was 
perfectly satisfied that the prince and the duke were 
not impostors, and he felt very doubtful as co his own 
fate. After hoisting the flag he returned by a back way 
to his lodge and went to bed, saying to his wife : “ I 
am took that bad I can’t do any thing ; tell the under 


AT DRUms MOUNT. 


247 


porter tojook after the lodge gate/’ His wife, who • 
was both puzzled and grieved at this sudden attack 
of illness, first carried the message to the under porter 
and then returned to console her husband who begged 
hard to be let alone. He recovered very rapidly, after 
hearing that the party had left without any inquiry 
having been made about hi-m. The truth is the party 
had left the room and most of its members were in- 
specting the figure-heads of wrecked vessels which are 
outside, when the factor came forward pouring forth 
apologies for not having been there sooner and urging 
that he had started off the instant he learned that such 
distinguished visitors were on the way to Tresco. 
Questions were put to him about the collection of 
figure-heads and other matters and. nothing was said 
about the porter’s blunder. 

Mrs. Bayle was not easily impressed with any 
natural objects and she was seldom demonstrative ; 
yet, after walking through the gardens of Tresco 
Abbey, she said to Lord Plowden Eton who, as his 
custom was, remained by her side as an escort : “ Well, 
well, I call this something like a garden. I never saw 
any thing like it in America and the Monaco gardens 
that Mr. Wentworth cracked up so are not to be com- 
pared to it.” 

“ I quite agree with you, Mrs. Bayle, I have never 
seen any thing to approach this.” The whole party 
concurred in admiring the varied and almost unique 
spectacle. All the plants and flowers which flourish 
in Great Britain' were growing there along with others 
which are supposed to be peculiar to tropical climes. 
At one spot might be seen the delicate English cycla- 
men under a tree-fern from New Zealand. At another, 
rose-bushes were flourishing alongside of bamboo 
plants from China, lilies from Me.xico and the Cape 
Fig Marigold. Some of the walls were clad with 
rnesembryanthemums and others with ivy. One long 
path was bordered with aloes ; another with Australian 
gum-trees. Strange birds as well as rare plants were to 


248 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


be found there ; the golden oriole built in the garden 
and ostriches laid eggs and reared their young in the 
lawn near the house. Nor were fish scarce there ; the 
fish-ponds cover fifty acres ; in short, all that is re- 
quired to form an earthly paradise could be found at 
and around Tresco Abbey. Yet the lord of all these 
wonders prefers to pass the winter somewhere on the 
mainland, where the climate may be less genial and 
gardens are less lovely. Perhaps Adam and Eve 
would have abstained from the forbidden fruit if some 
occupation had diverted their thoughts or if some pleas- 
ure had occupied them. Idle heads provide mischief 
for idle hands. 

The factor lamented that the house was closed and 
that no entertainment could be provided in it at so 
short notice. But he was told not to concern himself, 
as the party hoped to return to Druid’s Mount for a 
late dinner. He was highly gratified when the prince 
said on leaving that he had greatly enjoyed his visit 
to Scilly and that he hoped to return and see those 
parts which he had not yet visited. 

The return voyage was made by another channel 
than that through which the steamer had entered. As 
the vessel moved on its course, the passengers had a 
close view of an Italian bark which had gone on the 
rocks during the fog. Happily the sea was extremely 
calm and the vessel was so little injured that it was 
expected she would float safely when lightened of cargo. 
The captain of the steamer said that though many ves- 
sels were wrecked, the loss of life was much less now 
than it used to be when he was young. He admitted, 
indeed, that the improvement was due to the desire of 
the people to save the lives of those in peril quite as 
much as to the perfection of the life-saving apparatus. 

Five-o’clock tea was provided on board the steamer ; 
but Miss Bayle was the only lady who cared to eat or 
drink. A breeze was blowing and the others thought 
that they had better lie down at once. The wind was 
favorable and a sail was set which steadied the boat. 


249 


AT DRUID'S MOUNT. 

Moreover, though the surface of the sea was rougher 
than in the morning, the swell was not so great ; hence 
the boat went along so quietly that before the passage 
was half over, the whole party was able to reassemble 
on deck and enjoy the splendid view of Penzance and 
the surrounding country when approached from the 
sea. The moon had risen before the voyage was over 
and the spectacle was invested with a fresh charm. 
The party sat down to dinner at Druid’s Mount at 
nine o’clock, after having compressed into the com- 
pass of a single day a vast number of fresh and 
pleasant experiences. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


MISS BAYLE AT BAY. 


HE next day’s programme included a drive through 
the mining district and a visit to Truro, which now 



aspires to hold in Cornwall the position which Exeter 
holds in Devonshire. Neither the duke nor duchess 
had stopped at Truro since the cathedral was finished. 
As a large subscriber to the fund for building it the 
duke was anxious to see the result. He might have 
had a voice in choosing the design ; but he had urged 
other engagements as an excuse for not accepting his 
election as a member of the building committee. He 
had no knowledge of architecture ; his own tastes 
were scientific and his hobby at the moment was' 
electric lighting. He was desirous of visiting the 
cathedral in order to learn what plans had been adopted 
for lighting it and whether there was any chance of 
electricity being preferred to gas, oil, or candles. 

But the weather was unpropitious for a drive ; the 
three exquisite days were followed by one of gloom 
and rain. All sight-seeing had become a form of 
punishment and, had not the bishop been informed 
that the prince, his eldest son, and the duke would 
visit Truro that day, the expedition tfiither would have 
been abandoned. It was resolved to go by rail instead 
of by road ; the worst railway carriage is quite as 
comfortable on a wet day as the best carriage drawn 
by horses. The prince intimated that those only who 
cared to do so need accompany him, and »that, if he 
could please himself, he would remain behind. In 
consequence of this intimation, which was equivalent 


MISS BA VLB AT BAY. 251 

to a permission, most of the party remained at Druid’s 
Mount ; the party which set off for Truro consisted of 
the prince and his son, the duke and duchess, and Miss 
Bayle. 

The following day was the last which the prince 
purposed spending at Druid’s Mount, and it was much 
finer than the previous one, though slight showers fell 
at intervals. It was resolved by the prince to devote 
the early part of the day to walking about the neigh- 
borhood in company with the duke ; to go out fish- 
ing in the afternoon and to be present in the evening 
at the starting of a new arrangement for lighting the 
house and grounds by means of electricity. This had 
formed the subject of many experiments, and the 
duke hoped the machinery would have been in full 
working order before the date of the prince’s visit. 
But the usual delays and miscalculations had occurred 
and progress had been even slower during the stay of 
the prince. However, it was thought that all difficul- 
ties had been surmounted at last, and it was expected 
that the prince would see the completion of an ingeni- 
ous and novel design. 

It had long been the Duke of Windsor’s belief that 
no greater benefit could be conferred upon his fellow 
countrymen and also his fellow men than the discov- 
ery of a simple and effective plan for utilizing the 
force of the tides. He had calculated that an amount 
of power sufficient to actuate all the machinery in the 
world is entirely wasted each time the sea ebbs and 
flows around the British Isles. There was nothing 
novel in this, the same thought having occurred to 
other persons ; but none had solved the problem of 
how to profit by this great natural force. The duke’s 
contribution to its solution were the appliances for 
lighting Druid’s Mount with electricity. 

Many experiments had been made which served to 
prove the greatness of the obstacles to be overcome. 
Into these it is unnecessary to enter at present, the 
result being all that will be generally interesting. 


252 MISS BA VLB'S ROMANCE, 

After many trials and failures the duke had succeeded 
in arranging that the tide, when it flowed, should fill 
a reservoir of water from which a stream issued by 
another channel, and in this there was an undershot 
water-wheel. Sluices, balanced and buoyed so as to 
work automatically, closed and opened the entrances 
to the channels and the outlets from them. The 
stream turned the wheel which actuated an Elphin- 
stone and Vincent d5mamo. The current of electric- 
ity so produced was stored in accumulators and from 
them was distributed throughout the house and 
grounds. Thus, without any outlay save for the 
construction of the machinery, a sufficient quantity 
of electricity was produced to light a much larger 
area than that of the house and grounds of Druid’s 
Mount. 

The arrangements were so simple that even the 
ladies understood them ; indeed they were much sim- 
pler in appearance than they can be made to appear 
on paper without the aid of diagrams. The prince 
congratulated the duke on his success and he hoped 
that what he had done might serve as a useful lesson 
to others. 

Mr. Bayle was most hearty in his compliments. 
What he had seen gave him an idea of the English 
aristocracy totally different from that which he had 
entertained. He little knew that from the Marquess 
of Worcester, who is credited with having invented 
the steam-engine, down to Lord Elphinstone and the 
Duke of Windsor, the aristocracy of Britain numbers 
in its ranks many men of science of the first-class and 
inventors of real originality. Unfortunately^, those 
peers who adorn their order are less conspicuous and 
talked about than those who disgrace it. Mr. Bayle 
only echoed the opinions of the majority of his coun- 
trymen when, after saying, “ I guess, duke, you have 
fixed it,” he added, “ I never thought an English duke 
could do any thing so useful. When I go home and 
tell our folks what I have seen here they will not 


MISS BA YLE A T BAY. 253 

believe me. You must patent this and form a com- 
pany to run it.” 

“ No,” said the duke, “you are welcome to do what 
you please with it. After all, this is but an experi- 
ment and great improvements may be made on my 
plan. If the plan with or without improvements 
proves of general benefit I shall be amply rewarded.” 

“ That would never do in our country. We think 
no rewards are so practical as dollars. However, as 
1 have said, you English area queer people. You are 
as grasping at times as any people on God’s earth, 
and at others you will make the world a present of 
some invention in which there are millions.” 

During the excursions which have been briefly de- 
scribed and in the intervals between them, some of 
the visitors to Druid’s Mount were not idle. The 
Countess de Flaubard vigorously pursued her cam- 
paign against Mr. Bayle with a view to compel him to 
consent that his daughter should marry her son. She 
fancied that he would regard this as a piece of con- 
descension on her part, other Americans having been 
highly gratified when their daughters became the 
wives of members of French noble families. Mr. 
Bayle listened to her and replied with perfect courtesy 
to the effect that the honor was one which did not 
concern him and also that he preferred hearing his 
daughter’s views before stating his own. This 
was a disappointment to the countess. She more than 
suspected that Miss Bayle did not care for young 
Count Louis ; she hoped, however, that if her father 
gave a decided opinion in favor of the match it would 
take place. She had given up all hope of influencing 
Mrs. Bayle or of obtaining her support since she 
heard from the duchess how indisposed Mrs. Bayle 
was to run counter to her daughter in any way. 

Before abandoning her project in despair, the 
countess turned for aid to another quarter. She had 
remarked with satisfaction that the prince liked to 
converse with Miss Bayle, and she inferred that he 


254 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

might try to persuade her that a marriage with the 
Flaubard family was most desirable. Accordingly, 
she laid the case before the prince and begged him to 
give what help he could. She was right in supposing 
that he would sympathize with her. His liking for an 
historical family such as hers was great and natural ; 
but he knew enough of the Americans to understand 
that Mr. and Mrs. Bayle and their daughter might 
differ in opinion on this head. He suggested that the 
countess should speak frankly to Miss Bayle and he 
promised that, if she hesitated, and if a word from him 
would be of service, it should be spoken. 

The Countess de Flaubard had performed several 
disagreeable duties in her life and had nerved herself 
in each case to overcome her repugnance, but never 
had she felt less at her ease than when she had a con- 
versation with Miss Bayle. She availed herself of an 
opportunity the same evening, after the ladies had 
left the dining-room and when Miss Bayle said on en- 
tering the drawing-room : “ I guess I’m almost 

roasted. I shall go and cool off on the terrace.” 
Though not suffering from the heat and rather fear- 
ing the night air, the countess said, “ I will accompany 
you. Miss Bayle.” Not knowing exactly how to 
broach the subject, the countess began the convensa- 
tion with the commonplace question, ‘‘ How do you 
like this country ? 

“ Oh ! I like what I have seen of it very well ; but 
I have not seen much yet. The people are so kind 
that one can not help liking the country.” 

“ But I suppose you would prefer to stay in France ; 
all Americans think Paris far nicer than London. 
Besides, the Americans and the French get on so well, 
as they resemble each other in many respects.” The 
countess was ignorant of Miss Bayle’s unpleasant ad- 
venture in Paris, or she would not have made this re- 
mark. Owing to her ignorance of it she was as- 
tounded when Miss Bayle replied : 

“ If Frenchmen would learn good manners I should 


M/SS BA YLE AT BAY. 


255 


like them better. They are not half so polite to ladies 
as Americans. The English do not take off their hats 
so often as the French, but they will make way for a 
lady when a Frenchman would bow and let her step 
into the gutter.” 

“ Surely, Miss Bayle, you can not be in earnest. As 
an Englishwoman I naturally wish to think well of my 
countrymen, but I can not admit they are so polished 
as the French. Besides, you have not seen much of 
the best French society.” 

Miss Bayle had . not forgotten her night at the 
countess’s and the remembrance of it made her ex- 
claim, “ I guess I’ve seen enough ! ” Then, looking 
through the open window of the drawing-room, she 
added, “ The gentlemen have arrived. I must go in 
as I promised the prince I would play something to- 
night. I have not touched a piano for a long time, 
but as I promised, I suppose I must do my best.” 

The countess followed, feeling that she must give 
up her plan for making Miss Bayle her daughter-in- 
law. She was in a bad humor, being unused to 
failure. Her temper improved after listening to Miss 
Bayle play and sing. She played with audacity and 
sang with vigor. It was clear that she might play and 
sing better if she would but take pains. Unfortu- 
nately in her case, as in that of many of her country- 
women, the desire to shine was more conspicuous than 
the power to excel. If, instead of knowing fragments 
of many operas and single verses of many songs, she 
had learned to play a few pieces perfectly and sing a 
few songs from beginning to end, she would have 
pleased good judges, though she might not have been 
so generally praised for her brilliancy by those who 
mistake sound and fury for artistic skill. The prince 
thanked her and never asked her to play or sing again. 
The Countess de Flaubard told him that Miss Bayle 
had an unaccountable aversion for the French. He 
advised her not to pursue the matter further. She 
replied, with a spice of feminine malice, that she could 


256 MISS BA YLE*S ROMANCE. 

take this advice the more willingly since hearing Miss 
Bayle’s performance at the piano. 

Mr. Bayle enjoyed himself as much as any other 
guest. He got on with the prince as well as he had 
done with the duke. He really felt what he said, when 
first meeting and shaking hands with the prince, “ I am 
pleased to make your acquaintance, sir.” He was not 
overwhelmed by the prince treating him like a rational 
human being, as an Englishman might have been in 
the like circumstances, nor did he think it his duty, as 
some of his countrymen would have done, to be pre- 
suming and boastful in the presence of the heir to the 
crown of the United Kingdom. He talked to him as 
he would have talked to any one else and he made his 
court by being perfectly natural. The prince talked 
as freely with him in return. 

It was a curious coincidence that the Prince of 
Wales should have visited Chicago a few months after 
Mr. Bayle went thither to seek his fortune and that 
Mr. Bayle should have been among the crowd which 
saw the prince drive from the terminus of the Michi- 
gan Central Railway to the Richmond House. In con- 
sequence of this they had something in common ; 
hence, their first conversation turned upon the changes 
in Chicago. Mr. Bayle told him that the hotel in 
which he staid is now unknown ; that the Sherman 
House and Tremont House, which had become the 
fashionable hotels before the great fire, had given 
place, in turn, to the Palmer House and the Grand 
Pacific. He told him also of the many splendid build- 
ings which had arisen and how the University of Chi- 
cago had been founded since his visit. 

The prince asked : “ Is the prairie near Chicago 
as striking a spectacle as it was when I saw it ; and 
are the thunder storms and prairie fires on as grand a 
scale ? ” 

“ Well, prince, we have still plenty of thunder- 
storms, but we must go a long way off now before we 


M/SS BA YLE AT BAY. 257 

come to the real prairie. Do you remember the name 
of the prairie town you visited ? ” 

“ Yes. It was called Dwight and was a small place ; 
but the shooting round about was very good and the 
prairie chickens were as plentiful as partridges at 
Sandringham.’' 

“ You would look long now before you saw a prairie 
chicken at Dwight except in the market." 

“ However, the Mississippi is unchanged I sup- 
pose." 

“ In all respects except its course ; it has moved 
its bed several times since you saw it." 

“ But I mean does it still look the same straggling, 
weedy, dirty stream as before ? One of my party de- 
scribed it very well when he said that it looked as if it 
had a chronic attack of yellow fever." 

“ That’s so. The Father of Waters has an unhealthy 
look. Since the introduction of railroads he has had 
to take a back seat. Steamboating on the Mississippi 
is a mean business now.” 

The mention of railroads led the prince to ask for 
information about the great trunk lines which span the 
continent, and this Mr. Bayle was well able to impart. 
When questioned about the English railways, he 
avowed that he preferred the American. “ You see," 
he added, “ our system is better designed for the 
wants of our people. Besides, this country is but a 
very small one, not larger than the state of New York, 
and much smaller than many of our western States. 
Now your roads could easily be concentrated under 
one management and thus a great saving would be 
effected. If I were settled here, I should like nothing 
better than to run all your roads." 

“ This seems easy enough in theory ; but our prac- 
tice might interfere with your plans." 

“That’s just where there would be no difficulty. I 
could easily fix matters if I had the chance. Why 
don’t you take it in hand, prince } " 

“ The truth is, Mr. Bayle, we can not fix things, as 


MISS BAYLE’S ROMANCE. 


258 

you say, so easily as you suppose. All monopolies are 
opposed to the spirit of the age." 

“ As for the spirit of the age, I know nothing about 
it ; but I do know that railroading ought to be con- 
ducted so as to make money, and your people do not 
make as much as they might do if their railroads were 
better organized.” 

“ The matter is not one to which I have given much 
attention, but I should like to hear what you pro- 
pose.” 

“ You must excuse me if I make any mistake through 
ignorance of your ways and ideas ; you must suppose 
also that I look at the affair from a purely business 
point of view and I need not tell you that in matters of 
business between a company and the public, the com- 
pany is bound to have the worst of the bargain. Still 
if your people could only be brought to see it, there 
would be little difficulty in making the railroad com- 
panies the masters of the public. As it is they have 
too little liberty and, as a consequence, they pay too 
small dividends.” 

“ I believe you are right as to the smallness of the 
dividends. Many of' my friends complain of this ; 
but they complain at the same time of the depression 
of trade.” 

“ Depression of fiddlesticks, prince. The dividends 
would be large enough if your roads were run on 
American principles.” 

“ But what is your remedy ? How can the dividends 
be increased ? I have always thought the English 
railway companies set an example to those of any 
other country.” 

“ Hold on there ; you have been imposed upon by 
those who told you this. Your roads ought to set the 
example, but they don’t. The directors are played 
out. They want backbone. They don’t know their 
own business.” 

Mr. Bayle proceeded to expound a scheme for the 
reconstruction of the railway system of which more 


MISS BA VIE AT BA V. 


259 


may be heard hereafter. His scheme was framed in 
relation to the railway system in the United States ; 
the object of his life being to give effect to it there. 
He thought that if he could interest the prince in his 
project, he might aid him in applying his theories to 
English as well as American railway companies. 

Before the prince left Druid’s Mount he intimated 
that he had arranged to proceed to Homburg and to 
remain three weeks there, drinking the waters. He 
said that he hoped to meet Mr. and Mrs. Bayle and 
their daughter at that fashionable watering-place. Mr. 
Bayle had not formed any definite plan for the sum- 
mer, but he was disposed to try the Homburg waters 
in accordance with the advice of the physician whom 
he had consulted in London and to whom his doctor 
in New York had given him a letter of intro- 
duction. 

The Bayle family staid a day after the departure of 
the other guests, the Countess de Flaubard excepted, 
who was in no hurry to return to her happy home in 
France. Miss Bayle availed herself of the leisure she 
had to write again to Sadie James. “ Dearest Sadie,” 
she wrote, “ I sent you a short note a week ago and 
you must regard this as a continuation of it. I have 
had a real good time since then. Every day there 
has been something to do here. It seems that when 
you visit an English country house you have to be- 
come an actor in a performance, especially if a royal 
personage be present. Every thing is arranged before 
hand, and each day has its appointed occupation. 

“ We have worked hard since coming here and I 
must admit that no one has grumbled. All possible 
arrangements have been made for carrying out the 
programme without wearying the guests. The Prince 
of Wales, who is the principal guest, has been as 
ready to carry out the appointed task as any one 
else. 

“ I can not tell you in detail all that we have done, 
as it would require a volume to do so ; but I may 


26 o 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


mention one or two things which interested me. The 
chief one was a visit to the Scilly Isles, a place of 
which I never heard before and which differs from 
any I ever saw. They are about forty miles from the 
Land’s End and when you get there, you feel that you 
are in a new world. Flowers grow there in the open 
air which I never saw except in a hot-house in 
America. The people seem quite different from the 
English in this place and many of those I spoke to 
did not know any more about England than America. 
What seems very strange is that though all England 
is no larger than many of our Western states, the peo- 
ple in some parts are quite different from those in 
others. Here in Cornwall they speak as if they were 
not English at all. I asked some of the servants 
whether they had ever been in London, they said 
they had not but hoped to go to England some 
day. 

I think I told you in a letter from Paris about the 
Countess de Flaubard. She is the sister of the Duch- 
ess of Windsor and one of the guests here. It seems 
that she wishes me to marry her son Count Louis, she 
spoke to father and mother about it ; but got no en- 
couragement, They told me what she said, so when I 
saw her about to begin on the subject with me, I 
stopped her by giving her my opinions about the 
French, which are not complimentary. I don’t think 
she will trouble me again in a hurry. 

“ Since being shut up in a house with so many En- 
glish people I have been better able to form an opin- 
ion of them. What strikes me the most is the great 
difference between them, some being perfectly charm- 
ing and others quite the reverse, in fact what we are 
used to regard as pure English. The aristocracy is 
not nearly so stiff and starched as others who have 
nothing to boast of except their money. No persons 
could be pleasanter than the Prince of Wales, the 
Duke of Windsor and other nobles. I can’t say as 
much for the ladies, as I have found the wives of peers 


M/S'S BA YLES A 7' BAY. 


261 


very much less agreeable than their husbands. How- 
ever, if things go on as they have begun, I shall con- 
tinue to have a good time. We go to the Continent 
soon, probably to Homburg for the sake of father’s 
health.” 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE BAYLES AT HOMBURG. 

M r. BAYLE had been in the habit for several years 
of going to Saratoga during the season and 
drinking the water of the Congress Spring. Having 
heard that a mineral spring at Homburg closely re- 
sembled that at Saratoga, he decided to go to Hom- 
burg. Mrs. Bayle having heard that her friends the 
Johnsons were going to Homburg, was anxious to go 
also ; consequently she heartily approved of her hus- 
band’s resolution. Miss Bayle had heard that the 
Prince of Wales was going ; indeed, he had said that 
he should be glad to meet her there ; so she, too, was 
exceedingly pleased to learn from her father that they 
would start for Homburg. 

Lord Plowden Eton was told of this arrangement. 
He liked Homburg better than many other places, as 
he could play lawn tennis there to his heart’s content. 
He thought Mr. Rupert Wentworth might* pay the 
place a visit and he was anxious to see him again. 
The pair had not known each other long enough to 
disagree, and had been separated long enough to 
have a wish to meet. Besides, they had never trav- 
eled together. Thus it was that Lord Plowden wrote 
the letter which Mr. Wentworth received at Heidel- 
berg, and which has been reproduced. When he said 
to the Bayles that he purposed visiting Homburg, 
Mrs. Bayle exclaimed, “ I am real glad to hear it,” 
adding, “ I wish you’d join us. Mr. Bayle means to 
take a special car from Calais.” 

** I shall be delighted to join your party,” was his 


THE BA YLES AT HOMBURG. 


263 


emphatic reply, so it came about that Lord Plowden 
not only went to Homburg but did so in the company 
of the Bayles. He felt still happier and far more at 
his ease than when he had traveled with Mrs. Bayle 
and her daughter from Monte Carlo to Paris. 

Though the trip to Homburg did not last long, Lord 
Plowden had more opportunity in the course of it for 
speaking to Miss Bayle than he had enjoyed since 
they were in Paris together. At Druid’s Mount as in 
London she was either occupied with some one else, 
or he had other things and people to occupy him. 
Mrs. Bayle made him feel quite at home by remarking 
soon after the start : “ Well, I must say I do like this ; 
it is quite like old times ; it seems quite natural to be 
traveling with you. Lord Plowden.” 

You’re about right, mother ; I have not enjoyed 
any thing more since coming to Europe than our stay 
at Monte Carlo and our journey to Paris with Lord 
Plowden.” 

“ You flatter me, ladies,” he said, adding, “ I shall 
always look back with pleasure to our meeting at 
Monte Carlo. What a pity it is, however, that Mr. 
Wentworth is not here ; but I have written to him and 
I hope he may join us at Homburg.” 

*‘I’m sure I shall be delighted,” was Mrs. Bayle’s 
comment, adding, as she recollected that he was no 
favorite with her daughter, “ I hope you won’t object, 
Almy.” 

“ No, mother,” was the reply. “ I can live without 
him, but I’m glad you should see him again.” 

Mr. Bayle remarked, “ I am looking forward to 
making his acquaintance. I wish to interest him in 
my railroad scheme, as he has many friends in some 
of the New England companies and may help me in 
that section.” 

When the party went to the Victoria Hotel at Hom- 
burg, where Mr. Bayle took one of the three villas 
which are connected with it and in which there were 
many more rooms than he could occupy, he asked 


264 


MISS' BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


Lord Plowden to favor him by taking up his abode 
in the villa and he asked him to request Mr. Went- 
worth to do so likewise. Lord Plowden wrote a line 
to that effect ; but his note did not reach Mr. Went- 
worth till he had arrived at Plomburg and put up at 
the Victoria, where he had ordered his letters to be sent 
from London. 

Mr. Wentworth was glad of the prospect of seeing 
Lord Plowden and the others again. He did not visit 
Homburg till, according to his calculation, M. Pessac 
and his daughter must have left it. On going through 
the letters which he found at the hotel, he came upon 
the one which M. Pessac had sent to his London 
addres.s, but which had not been forwarded to Heidel- 
berg as he had given orders that all letters should be 
retained till he was able to supply a fresh address. He 
read it with mingled feelings. He was overjoyed to 
learn that he might see Mile. Elsa again and he was 
greatly annoyed to think that, owing to his orders 
about stopping the dispatch of letters, his silence 
might be misconstrued by her father and herself. 
He soon saw Lord Plowden ; resumed his acquaint- 
ance with Mrs. Bayle, bowed to her daughter and was 
formally introduced to Mr. Bayle. He had never said 
a word of his passion to Lord Plowden and he did not 
care to take him into his confidence now. He was 
half inclined to tell his story to Mrs. Bayle and ask her 
counsel ; but he dreaded lest she should disclose the 
matter to her daughter. 

Mr. Wentworth had often been at Homburg; but his 
last visit was paid several years before when the public 
gaming tables were open and when it was the place of 
fashionable resort for scoundrels and idlers from all 
parts of the world. He felt curious to see the 
changes which had taken place. As his custom was 
on previous visits, he got up early in the morning and 
walked down to the springs where he found the same 
routine going on and where he recognized the faces of 
many persons he had seen before ; these faces showed 


THE BAYLES AT HOME UR G. 265 

marks of age whereas the place itself appeared un- 
changed. The wrinkles on the face of nature are im- 
perceptible or evanescent. 

Being an early riser he was one of the first arrivals 
at the springs on the morning after reaching Hom- 
burg, and he heard the band play the hymn with which 
the morning’s performance commences. He had no 
prejudice against mineral water, so he drank a glass 
or two in order to be in the fashion. While walking- 
backward and forward along the principal walk he was 
taken aback by coming face to face with M. Pessac. 
The latter seemed overjoyed to meet him and rushed 
forward, holding out his hands and saying, “ lam per- 
fectly enchanted to see you, my dear friend.” 

“ This is a great surprise,” was Mr. Wentworth’s 
slowly-uttered reply ; he added, “ I thought that you 
had left Homburg. I arrived last night and then I 
received your letter along with others which were for- 
warded from London. Had I received it sooner, you 
should have heard from me.” 

“ I am quite sure of that ; indeed, I felt certain my 
letter had not reached you. It is true that I should 
have left a week ago ; but I had to request for an ex- 
tension of my leave of absence. My daughter has not 
been well and the doctor thought that she was not 
strong enough to travel.” 

“ What ! Mile. Elsa is not well ? I am truly grieved 
to hear of it. I always looked upon her as very strong.” 

“ So she used to be ; but somehow she has become 
delicate. However, we shall hope to see you in the 
course of the day. My father-in-law wishes to be in- 
troduced to you and I am sure my daughter will be 
glad to hear that you have arrived.” 

M. Pessac gave Mr. Wentworth the number of his 
room in the Hdtel de France and appointed a meeting 
there after breakfast. He went off saying that he 
wished to bear the pleasant news of Mr. Wentworth’s 
arrival and make arrangements for receiving him later. 

The meeting took place as agreed upon. Herr Cosse 


266 


Miss BA YLE'S kOMAMCE, 


explained himself very glad to make Mr. Wentworth's 
acquaintance. Mile. Elsa, though inwardly happy, 
was too well-bred, according to French notions, to 
give any outward token of it and received him as she 
did when he called at their Monaco house in the Rue 
du Tribunal. There seemed to be a tacit understand- 
ing among them that nothing should be said about 
the matter which was the subject of their thoughts, 
so the conversation was chiefly confined to meteoro- 
logical topics. Friederichsdorf being mentioned, Mr. 
Wentworth remarked that he had never visited it, 
though he often intended doing so. Herr Cosse ex- 
pressed his intentions of paying his weekly visit to it 
on the following day and he asked Mr. Wentworth to 
accompany him. This he readily agreed to do. 

Herr Cosse was desirous of forming an opinion of 
the American who wished to marry his granddaughter, 
while Mr. Wentworth was as desirous of seeing as 
much as he could of the family with which he might 
have been connected. Though of French descent and 
speaking French fluently, Herr Cosse thought none 
the worse of Mr. Wentworth when he learned that he 
knew Germany well, had lived long in the country, 
spoke the language easily and had a liking for the peo- 
ple. He was, indeed, most favorably impressed with 
him and he felt thankful that his granddaughter had 
the prospect of marrying such an excellent man. On 
his part Mr. Wentworth found Herr Cosse both well- 
informed and intelligent and, what was nearly as satis- 
factory, occupying the principal place in the village. 
As superintendent of the cigar factory he enjoyed the 
largest income of any one in the place, and he lived in 
the best house. In the evening of the day on which 
this visit was paid M. Pessac asked for an interview 
with Mr. Wentworth. On this occasion the tables 
were turned. When they last had a private interview 
Mr. Wentworth felt unusually nervous and confused. 
M. Pessac now felt ill at ease. 

A Frenchman has a great advantage when discuss- 


THE BA YLES AT HO M BURG. 


267 


ing any matter with an Englishman or an American. 
He can fascinate a victim or conciliate an adversary 
with elaborate compliments. With a fellow-country- 
man he gains nothing by this except time. When two 
Frenchmen meet for the purpose of mutual explana- 
tion, each will have as many compliments to digest as 
those which he utters. After a considerable waste of 
good sayings and of speeches which are as meaning- 
less as the formula, “ I am your obedient humble ser- 
vant,” they will come to business and transact it in a 
few minutes. Hence it was that, when M. Pessac had 
to explain matters to Mr. Wentworth, he had an in- 
comparable advantage over the latter when he had to 
engage in a corresponding duty toward M. Pessac. 

After preliminaries which need not be repeated and 
which confused without instructing Mr. Wentworth, 
M. Pessac continued : “ My dear sir, you will under- 
stand from what I have said how much I was im- 
pressed with your noble behavior to me at Monte 
Carlo, which, in short, was that of a perfect gentle- 
man. Your proposal took me by surprise and I 
naturally was unable to give full weight to the con- 
siderations which you urged. I told you that I could 
not agree to the marriage of my daughter with a 
foreigner ; but, when I said it, I did not sufficiently 
consider that Americans should not be regarded as 
foreigners in France. Your countrymen owe their 
independence to us. We have placed a statue of 
‘ Liberty Enlightening the World ’ on an island in New 
York harbor to commemorate this.” 

Mr. Wentworth winced when he heard these words, 
but he made no protest ; he knew that many French- 
men believe the American Republic to be the handi- 
work of their forefathers ; he also knew that it was 
impossible to convince any Frenchman that this tradi- 
tion was not literally accurate. Besides, he knew that 
many of his own countrymen were quite as ready as 
M. Pessac to give France the entire credit of founding 
the United States of America, having recently read 


268 


M/SS BA YLE^S ROMANCE. 


the following passage in the Atlantic Monthly^ one of 
his favorite magazines : “ Our independence was 
achieved and secured by the French alliance — the 
sympathy, the money, the war supplies, and the navy 
of France.” However, he made no protest, but 
listened as if he assented to the proposition, and M. 
Pessac continued as follows : “ As France not only 
established the free government of the country of 
which you are justly proud, and as you and your 
countrymen treat us Frenchmen accordingly, it was a 
regrettable error on my part to forget this for the 
moment and to class you among the foreigners with 
whom I object to connect myself by my daughter’s 
marriage. If you favor me by pardoning this mistake 
on my part, we can treat the matter as if I had pro- 
nounced no decision.” 

“ Pray, sir, do not apologize ; the fault may have 
been mine. I took you by surprise and in such a case 
this would be blameworthy.” M. Pessac was afraid 
lest Mr. Wentworth would be unrelenting ; he became 
good-humored and perfectly natural in manner upon 
finding that his rather formal overture had met with a 
satisfactory response. In token of his gratification he 
shook hands with Mr. Wentworth and said in his 
pleasantest tone : “Now then, my dear sir, as we 
understand each other, we may talk freely. I should 
tell you perhaps, why my mind has been set against 
the marriage of my daughter with a foreigner. I am 
getting old ; yes, that is too true notwithstanding your 
courteous dissent, and I have my ideal. It consists 
in retiring to a small cottage near where I was born 
and where my brother lives, and living there for the 
rest of my days. I should like my daughter and her 
husband to live with me. I can not bear the thought 
of being separated from her. This is not the view of 
your people ; they seem to think, if I am rightly in- 
formed, that the more the parents are separated from 
their children after the children marry, the better. 
Our French notions and customs differ from yours 


THE BAYLES AT HO M BURG. 269 

and those of the English in such things, but I think 
our way is the best. At any rate it pleases me. I 
fully understand then, that, if I accept you as my 
son-in-law, I must cut myself off from my daughter’s 
society.” 

“ Do not be afraid of that,” interposed Mr. Went- 
worth. M. Pessac, with a gesture of impatience, said, 

Permit me to proceed and finish what I have to say. 
I think I know what you would remark ; you would 
reassure me against eventual separation from my 
daughter. I felt as you do now when I married ; I 
was ready to promise my wife’s father that his daughter 
would remain near him ; but circumstances were too 
strong for my wishes and they would probably affect 
any resolution which you might form in perfect good 
faith. However, I have changed my mind to this 
extent. If you wait a few months longer before ask- 
ing for a definite reply, I may say that it will probably 
be in your favor. I wish to accustom myself to the 
new prospect-and to forget the ideal I have cherished.” 
M. Pessac spoke with an emotion which was perfectly 
genuine and which affected Mr. Wentworth, who 
replied, “ My dear sir, I not only agree to your con- 
dition, but I feel convinced that some arrangement 
may be devised which will soften your sacrifice. I 
gather from what you say that you do not wish me to 
change my behavior to your daughter.” 

“ You have correctly interpreted my wishes. We 
return to Monaco to-morrow. I shall tell my daughter 
tliat you are coming to see us there, and I shall tell 
my father-in-law and my sister what I have said to you. 
They will be greatly pleased, I think, as you are a 
favorite with both of them. If I might further tres- 
pass on your good-nature, I would suggest that you 
should visit Bordeaux before you return to Monaco ; 
my brother, who has heard much of you, would be 
glad to see you and I am desirous that you should 
become acquainted with all the members of the family 
to which you wish to ally yourself.” 


2 70 MISS BA YLE' S ROMA NCE, 

Mr. Wentworth promised to act upon the suggestion ; 
he also promised not to visit Monaco for two months, 
during which time M. Pessac might make up his mind. 
M. Pessac said : “ Before we part I have a last favor 
to ask. It is that you will not correspond with my 
daughter. I was greatly relieved and gratified to find 
that what you said on a former occasion was literally 
true and that you had not made love to her before 
asking my permission. This respect for truth is one 
of the things which render you so attractive in my 
eyes. In this you resemble a Frenchman. The En- 
glish are quite different. We speak of their country as 
perfide Albion ' and we can not believe any thing they 
say. You are far happier, being a citizen of a country 
which, as I have read, elected its first president 
because he could not tell a lie and has always made 
this the first qualification for high office. It is suffi- 
cient, then, to promise that you will not correspond 
with my daughter for me to trust you as I should trust 
myself.” 

“ I readily promise not to do any thing of the kind 
till I have your full permission.” 

“A thousand thanks, my dear sir ; you have height- 
ened my good opinion of you if that be possible.” 

Mr. Wentworth felt less satisfied after this conversa- 
tion than he did before it. He was now in the posi- 
tion of an accepted suitor for the hand of Mile. Elsa ; 
he clearly saw that the delay and the conditions had 
been suggested by M. Pessac simply in order to recon- 
cile him to the change. Though not averse to com- 
pliments, he could not accept as seriously as they were 
offered those which M. Pessac had paid to the truth- 
fulness of all Americans and all Frenchmen. He 
knew France and the French too well not to under- 
stand that a rigid adherence to truth on all occasions 
can scarcely be numbered among their most conspicu- 
ous virtues. 

When M. Pessac told Mr. Wentworth that he would 
not permit his daughter to marry a foreigner, he left 


THE BA YLES A T HO M BURG. 


271 


him greatly depressed at the decision and more in 
love with Mile. Elsa than ever. Now he heard that an 
exception was to be made in his favor and he was less 
elated than he should have been. He ought to have 
been happy, whereas he was only critical. His own 
way seemed the less desirable when he could have it. 
He subjected himself to a cross-examination which no 
ardent lover would dream of attempting. When he 
should have been in the seventh heaven of delight, he 
was fearful lest he had been playing the fool. His 
love for Mile. Elsa seemed to be nourished by and to 
exist upon contradiction. He was too self-sufficient 
to be a genuine lover. 

Mr. Wentworth spent the evening in company with 
Mile. Elsa, her father and grandfather. He spoke to 
her on the old terms, which had a close resemblance 
to those of master and pupil. She was as ready to 
listen to him as she used to be and she was as uninten- 
tionally flattering to him as before, by appearing to ask 
of him advice and to accept it as final. He questioned 
her as to the books she read and he found that the 
course of study he recommended had been diligently 
pursued. She had gone through all the works of Haw- 
thorne and asked him many questions about them. 
She candidly avowed her inability to understand “ The 
Scarlet Letter,” and she requested explanations about 
“ The Marble Faun,” which he was unable ^o give. On 
the other hand she was charmed with Longfellow’s 
‘‘ Hyperion,” and as this was one of Mr. Wentworth’s 
favorites, he had the extreme satisfaction of finding 
common ground for praise. 

M. Pessac and his daughter started on their return 
journey early the following morning. Mr. Wentworth 
was at the railway station to give them, in American 
phrase, “ a good send-off.” Herr Cosse was there also. 
They left the station together after the train had started 
and Herr Cosse said he was most gratified to observe 
how greatly his granddaughter’s health had improved, 
and he arranged with Mr. Wentworth for frequent 


2T2 MISS BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 

meetings before he left Homburg. “ I like you,” he 
said, “ because you seem to have thorough German 
sympathies and I shall like nothing better than to see 
more of you.” 

“You are very kind,” was Mr. Wentworth’s reply ; 
“I shall be equally glad to cultivate your acquaintance.” 
He was no hypocrite. He had spoken German with 
Herr Cosseand French with Mile. Pessac. Each had 
thought him charming. Mile. Pessac regarded him as 
half a Frenchman and Herr Cosse as half a German. 
In reality he was a thorough American. 

Under the frigid exterior which is a Bostonian char- 
acteristic or affectation, Mr. Wentworth concealed a 
large fund of sympathy. Thus it was that, without 
any desire to sail under false colors, he was often 
credited with an amount of liking for the ways and the 
persons of others which was not justified by any defi- 
nite act or feeling. But this conduct or natural gift 
had its special uses. It smoothed his passage through 
life. Those who are, or who seem to be all things to 
all men, and more particularly to all women, find roses 
strewn over their path and they become the spoiled 
darlings of society. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

OLD AND NEW PLAY AT HOMBURG. 

M r. WENTWORTH observed a great change in 
Mrs. Bayle and her daughter since he made 
their acquaintance at Monte Carlo. They had ripened 
and improved. They were no longer the prejudiced 
Americans in whose eyes America was the universe 
and the dwellers in other climes were outer barbarians. 
They were none the worse Americans because they had 
become less confident that their home criterion was 
universally applicable. They had learned the lesson 
which is only acquired through the experience of travel 
that people might differ in many' respects from their 
standard and yet be estimable and charming. The 
Old World was no longer new and puzzling to them. 
It had grown the more enjoyable as its novelty had 
worn off. Though strangers in a strange land they 
did not feel so far removed from home. They had 
learned to accommodate themselves to the ways of the 
people among whom they were thrown and, as most of 
these people were very pleasant, they found it the 
easier to do so. 

Mrs. Bayle had not only given up wearing too many 
jewels and a diamond ring on the forefinger of her 
right hand, but now she was seldom overdressed. She 
was ready to admit that the life she led in Europe was 
more to her taste in many respects than that of Chicago 
or New York. She had learned to pass her day in 
comparative comfort without drinking at short inter- 
vals the iced, or, as she miscalled it, the “ice” water 
\vhich use4 to be a necessity of existence and the ab- 


274 


MISS YLKS ROMANCE. 


sence of which caused her so much discomfort imme- 
diately after crossing the Atlantic. 

“ I must say,” she said in reply to a question from 
Mr. Wentworth, “ I have got to like the European 
hotels. They are not so finely gotten up as ours, but 
they are much more homelike. I often think I am in 
my own home on Michigan Avenue without being 
driven crazy by servants. Besides, I keep my health 
much better on this side. The attacks of malaria 
which used to prostrate me for days together only last 
a few hours and I don’t get so much run down. I am 
not surprised, sir, that you spend so much time in 
Europe.” 

“ Well, madam, I stay here chiefly because I have 
nothing to do in America. It is now several years 
since I was home and I feel like going back.” 

Their conversation was interrupted by Miss Bayle’s 
entering the room and saying : “ I think it's about 
time to go out ; father’s waiting on the sidewalk.” 

“ I see. Miss Bayle,” Mr. Wentworth remarked, 
you are getting quite English in your talk ; you have 
begun to ‘think ’ instead of to ‘guess.’ ” 

“ Is that so ? I guess one should learn the language 
of the country one’s in, and Lord Plowden Eton has 
said so often that ‘ guessing ’ is pure American and 
what he calls ‘ bad form ’ that I have given it up almost 
without knowing it. You seem to have done the same 
thing, and I call it real mean to say any thing before 
mother which might make her think I am not a good 
American.” 

“ Please, Miss Bayle, don’t be annoyed. I really 
intended to pay you a compliment. Wait, however, 
till I write my essay showing that the commonest 
Americanisms are the best old English, and then you 
will be able to have your revenge upon Lord Plowden.” 

They went to the Casino, which they had not visited 
before Mr. Wentworth’s arrival. He told them that 
the change since he last saw it was greater than they 
could readily believe. The building was as conir 


OLD AND NEW PLAY AT HOMBURG. 275 


modious and well arranged and the rooms were as 
spacious and richly decorated as ever. He said : “ Till 
I entered this place to-day, I have never realized what 
a visit to Thebes must be to an Egyptian mummy who 
should be restored to life, as well as undressed for the 
benefit of spectators who call themselves archaeologists 
but who are mere curiosity-hunters. The life has left 
this building ; it is the monument of an extinct or a 
departed race.” 

Though Mrs. Bayle was too good and consistent a 
listener to interrupt any one needlessly, she could not 
help remarking : “ I remember, Mr. Wentworth, that 

you said the Casino at Monte Carlo was a poor affair 
compared with that of Homburg, but I did not think 
then that the difference could have been so great. 
These rooms are quite splendid. They remind me of 
the Palmer House.” 

Mr. Wentworth was in doubt for a moment where 
the Palmer House was, but Mr. Bayle soon put him in 
possession of the requisite information by adding, 
“Yes, Judy, you are perfectly right; the Palmer 
rfouse is not only the grandest hotel in Chicago, but 
in the world.” 

“ Surely, father,” was Miss Bayle’s comment, “ you 
can not say that the Grand Pacific is not quite as ele- 
gant ? ” 

“ Perhaps you are right, Alma, but I seldom went there, 
the other was the headquarters of our capitalists.” 

“ I have seen neither,” said Mr. Wentworth, “ nor 
do I wish to offer an opinion. Men differ as much 
about hotels as women do as to the beauty of one of 
their sex. We have the Parker House in Boston 
which some say is the finest hotel on the continent, 
and others call it the meanest ; for my own part I 
found it good enough when I visited friends there. 
All I know about the Palmer House is derived from 
Mark Twain’s ‘ Life on the Mississippi ’ where, if I 
remember rightly, he praises the Southern House at St. 
Louis and says that ‘ its decorations do not make me 


2^6 MISS BA VIES ROMANCE. 

cry as do those of the vast Palmer House of Chi- 
cago.’ ” 

The faces of the party, excepting that of Lord 
Plowden, who had joined them, dropped as St. Louis 
was mentioned. Mr. Wentworth had too little personal 
experience of the West to understand the bitterness of 
the rivalry between St. Louis and Chicago, but he saw 
that he had unintentionally given offense. Happily 
for him he had erred through ignorance. If he had 
not, the presence of Lord Plowden would have been 
insufficient to restrain the exuberant and extreme in- 
dignation of the Bayles. The rivalry between two 
petty Italian republics in olden days and between two 
leading actors or actresses or statesmen in these days 
of enlightenment and progress, could not be keener 
or more envenomed than that which prevails between 
the cities of Chicago and St. Louis. Few other cities 
on the North American Continent are so morbidly 
jealous of each other. The Bayles were shocked to 
hear Mr. Wentworth sanction, even by means of a 
quotation from such a jester as Mark Twain, an utter 
and wicked calumny upon a Chicago hotel and the in- 
sult of comparing it unfavorably with a St. Louis one. 

“ What is that ? ” asked Mrs. Bayle, who was unac- 
quainted with all games. 

“ Why that is a small bagatelle board ; the govern- 
ment regards the game as harmless, and they do so 
with perfect truth, because you may wait here for 
hours together and never see any one play. How dif- 
ferent from the olden days ! A Tre7ite et Quarante 
table used to stand in the same place as that bagatelle 
board and it was difficult to get near it. A crowd two 
feet deep surrounded the table from the opening to 
the closing of the rooms.” 

“ I suppose, sir,” said Mr. Bayle, “ you have been 
in Morrisey’s at Saratoga ? ” 

“ Thave not, Mr. Bayle ; but I saw enough of gam- 
ing in my younger days to lead me to the conclusion 
that ‘ fighting the tiger ’ does not pay, and neither 


OLD AND NEW PLAY AT HO M BURG. 277 

here, nor at Monte Carlo have I often cared to bet a 
red cent." 

“ You are a sensible man," was Mr. Bayle’s rejoin- 
der ; he added, “ I have fought the tiger more than 
once and I am alive to tell the tale and to give good 
advice to those who have not done so, my advice 
being, ‘ don’t.’ They tell me, however, that in Europe 
nothing but a ‘ square game ’ is played. Is that so ? " 

“ Yes, Mr. Bayle, the keepers of gaming houses in 
Europe never think of stealing. I found that out at 
Monte Carlo. But they allow ladies to play which we 
never do, and there they are quite wrong.” 

“ Why shouldn’t ladies play, if they have a mind 
to ? " was Miss Bayle’s emphatic inquiry. 

Mr. Wentworth could not give a reason which his 
fair countrywoman would accept, so he tried the 
Scotch and Quaker mode of foregoing a reply by put- 
ting a question. “ Have you read ‘ Daniel Deronda ’ ? " 
he said. 

“ I have, but 1 did not care much about it," she 
replied. 

“ Perhaps you may remember how Gwendolen Har- 
leth lost all her money at play in these rooms and the 
consequences ? " 

“ Oh, yes, I read about that, but I cared less about 
what she did at the tables than about her marrying 
that odious Grandcourt." 

Here Lord Plowden interposed in the discussion. 
He had made up for lost time by reading novels in his 
leisure hours, and he was only too ready to show Miss 
Bayle how much his education had advanced since he 
first met her. He said, “ That’s not quite fair, Went- 
worth, you are taking advantage of Miss Bayle’s 
acknowledged ignorance of gaming. She would nat- 
urally pass over the chapters in which Gwendolen’s 
escapade is described and, if she did not, then she 
might not have detected that George Eliot had blun- 
dered." 

“Blundered!" exclaimed Mr. Wentworth, “that 


278 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


she could not have done ; she was too careful and 
accurate an observer ; besides, I can vouch for her 
having studied the scene on the spot as I saw her one 
evening in this very room watching the play. I ob- 
served many persons look at her, but it was not till 
she had left the room that I learned who she was. 
An old Heidelberg friend came and asked me if I had 
seen George Eliot. I said that I did not know her by 
sight. He added, I have just had a talk with Lewes 
and he tells me that his wife was standing at one of 
the tables watching the play and that she had left 
because so many persons stared at her. Then I knew 
who the lady was whom I had stared at with the 
rest.” 

Lord Plowden had recently read “ Daniel Deronda,” 
and, as he knew more about play than many other 
things, he was able to display his reading and knowl- 
edge ; this he did by saying, “ Perhaps you remember 
the words she puts into the croupier’s mouth ? ” 

“ No,” replied Mr. Wentworth, “ I was too inter- 
ested in the story and too full of admiration for the 
artistic skill of the writer to notice trifles about which, 
I may add, I am no authority.” 

“ Well then,” continued Lord Plowden, eager to 
gain an easy triumph, “ she makes the croupier say, 
‘ Faites votre jeu^ mesdames et messieurs^' and next, ‘ Le 
jeu ne va plus' Now the right phrases are, ‘ Faites 
votre jeu, messieurs^ '•Le jeu est fait,' 'Rien ne va plus'" 

“ After all, the mistake is a trifling one,” was Mr. 
Wentworth’s comment. 

“ I don’t call it important, but I have noticed that 
most of the descriptions of gaming are wrong. Even 
Lord Beaconsfield makes a blunder.” 

“ Where did you find that ? ” inquired Miss Bayle. 
“ I have read his books, but I don’t recollect any thing 
about gaming in them.” 

“ I thought you once told me you had read ‘ The 
Young Duke,’ and, perhaps, you have also read ‘Viv- 
ian Grey,’ ” said Lord Plowden. 


OLD AND NEW PLA V AT HOMBURG. 279 


“Yes, sir, of course I have read them all,” was her 
rather curt reply. 

“ Perhaps I ought not to have doubted this. What 
I had in my mind were the blunders he makes in 
‘ Vivian Grey ' when describing the game of Trente 
et Quarante as played at Ems. It is only in Charles 
Reade's ‘ Woman Hater ’ that I have seen a correct 
account of the game, and I think his account of Ina 
Klosking’s winning money in this room is far more 
lifelike than George Eliot’s description of Gwendolen 
Harleth’s losing it.” 

“ I see, Lord Plowden,” said Miss Bayle, who had 
listened to him with marked impatience, “ that you 
have become a great reader, but you seem to think of 
nothing but gambling scenes. I detest gambling ; I 
would not marry a gambler to save myself from starv- 
ing. But what is that they are doing at the other end 
of the room ? ” 

“ It is called Dutch top, I believe,” replied Mr. 
Wentworth. “ I have seen it played in Swiss hotels 
where there is nothing else to do but look at mountains 
or ascend them. .It is a species of gaming on a much 
smaller scale than was the rule when gaming was 
openly permitted here. As far as I can judge the 
players nearly always lose, and when they do win, they 
receive a prize which is as valuable as the prizes won 
at the charity bazars of which the pious English 
people are so fond. However, you can go and judge 
for yourself.” 

The party went to a place where a table stood and 
from which a noise proceeded resembling the firing of 
a small mitrailleuse or letting go the anchor of a small 
craft. The player’s object was to make a metal top 
thread its way through obstacles on a board and knock 
down pins in its passage. When success crowned his 
e.fforts, in which chance had more influence than skill, 
he obtained a prize which was generally far inferior in 
value to the payments he had made. Yet from morn- 
ing till night the table attracted eager players. The 


2So M/SS BA YLE'S BOMAA^CB. 

defense of the game was that the sum lost by each 
player was trifling. In the olden days, when Trente 
et QuaranU a.nd Roulette were played under the same 
roof, the sums lost by each player were larger ; but, 
as Mr. Wentworth pertinently asked : “ Is a sin not a 
sin when it is small ? I have read that an English 
clergyman was made a bishop chiefly for preaching 
about The Sinfulness of Little Sins. He would have 
found material for a text here. The game of Dutch 
top is just as demoralizing as any other, if gaming be 
intrinsically wicked.” 

Mr. Bayle, regarded the rooms with interest, listened 
attentively to the explanation given and the moral 
maxims uttered by Mr. Wentworth and then he re- 
marked : 

“ I guess we’ve had enough of this, sir. Let’s ga 
and see the other game you spoke about. This seems 
a one-horse affair. If the Casino at Monte Carlo is not 
more interesting I shall not go there. I did not come 
to Europe to play at Dutch top or bagatelle.” 

“ Say, father,” exclaimed his. daughter, “ the rooms 
at Monte Carlo are not nearly so elegant as these ; but 
the play is very different. I never saw so much money 
lost and won in my life as I saw in an hour at Monte 
Carlo.” 

“ Almy,” interrupted her mother, “ you should tell 
your father that people who win any thing at Monte 
Carlo have their winnings scooped up. Don’t you 
remember what happened to me when that old woman 
— I guess she was English — put my bets into her 
pocket ? ” 

“ Yes, mother, I do remember it ; but I only said 
that play at Monte Carlo was not the one-horse affair 
it seems to be here. But let’s go to the lawn tennis 
ground. Lord Plowden has promised to teach me to 
play that game, which he calls awfully nice.” 

I.awn tennis has become the outdoor dissipation at 
Homburg and Dutch top the indoor one. Lord Plow- 
den was a capital player at tennis and he was glad to 


OLD AND NEW PLAY A 2 ' HOMBURG. 281 

have as a pupil such a young lady as Miss Bayle. The 
other members of the party watched them. At all 
times the spectators are many in number. With the 
exception of taking walks and waters, there is nothing 
else to do in Homburg between luncheon and dinner 
than to play at cricket or tennis or watch others doing 
so. The German spectators do not seem to have a 
clear idea as to which is cricket and which lawn tennis, 
nor do they quite understand why either game should 
be the subject of so much interest and excitement. 
They regard players at both as harmless lunatics out 
for a holiday. 

The Prince of Wales appeared on the grounds, hav- 
ing arrived at Homburg that morning. He expressed 
his pleasure at meeting the Bayle family, and he also 
said he was glad to see Mr. Wentworth again. Being 
very fond of lawn tennis, he played a few games with 
Lord Plowden in which he was not the victor. 

“ I am very glad, Plowden,” he said, “ that you are 
doing your best. Many persons seem to think that I 
like to play with them when they try to let me win. 
However, I shall have my revenge one of these days 
after drinking enough of "the Elizabeth Spring.” 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


CORNERING THE BEARS. 

D uring the month that the Bayles staid in 
Homburg, life went on with a regularity akin to 
monotony. A little excitement was obtained by going 
to the races at Frankfort or seeing the weekly illumina- 
tions in the gardens of the Casino ; but this did not 
render Mr. Bayle a happy man. Had it not been that 
he found several old acquaintances and made some 
new ones before a week had elapsed, he would have 
left the place in disgust. His old friend “ Dave ” 
Jackson appeared, and -several Americans claimed ac- 
quaintance with him. They all amused themselves by 
discussing schemes for making money. 

Mr. Bayle had not been idle during his stay in Lon- 
don and, while at Homburg, he was in daily commun- 
ication by Atlantic cable with his friends in America. 
His active mind would not allow him to take a com- 
plete rest ; he could not occupy himself with books and 
thus divert his thoughts from the topic of money- 
getting ; his sole object in life was to increase his 
wealth. The less men know what to do with the 
money they have, the more money do they wish to 
acquire. 

When Commodore Vanderbilt died at the age of 
eighty-two he did not think he was rich enough, though 
he had accumulated twenty millions sterling. His son, 
William H. Vanderbilt, died while engaged in heaping 
up treasure, though he was the possessor of forty 
millions sterling. As Mr. Bayle had two millions only, 
he considered himself a comparatively poor man. No 
matter bow much more he might acquire, he would 


CORNERING THE BEARS. 


283 


never consider himself a rich one. To become rich 
beyond the dreams of avarice is a phrase and not a 
possibility. 

The prospect of Mr. Bayle doubling or trebling his 
fortune was not remote. Since arriving at Homburg, 
he had received news encouraging him to hope that he 
might in time become as rich as the Vanderbilts. His 
project with regard to railways, which he mentioned to 
the Prince of Wales at Druid’s Mount, had made rapid 
progress toward adoption. Being in the receipt of 
news which would interest his American friends he 
resolved they should all hear it at the same time and, 
for this purpose, he invited them to breakfast. 

The party numbered ten besides himself ; two of the 
guests were the London correspondents of the JVew 
York Herald and the Chicago Tribune who were taking 
their holidays at Homburg, and who were always on 
the look-out for “ items ” of news. It was Mr. Bayle’s 
expectation that these gentlemen would telegraph to 
their respective papers the information which he was 
about to impart to his friends, and in this he was not 
disappointed. Each forwarded a telegram immedi- 
ately after the breakfast. The following is a summary 
of what they both wrote after telegraphing. 

Mr. Bayle first told his friends that, while American 
railroads were the best in the world, he thought they 
could be improved in one respect. Railroad corpo- 
rations were denounced as monopolists ; his object 
was to render railroads both paying and popular. 

Mr. Bayle next said that he was opposed to the 
general government controlling the railroads, as had 
been suggested : what he desired was that the rail- 
road companies should serve the people and be con- 
trolled by them, at least in appearance. His purpose 
then was to constitute a body, formed under the 
authority of a special act of Congress, to be called the 
American Railroad S3mdicate, which should acquire all 
the existing railroads and convert all the shares and 
bonds into stock bearing four per cent, interest, In 


284 


M/SS BA VLB’S BOMANCB. 


this way unity of management would be obtained and 
a large saving effected. 

He admitted that, irrespective of any obstacle in the 
text of the constitution, the main difficulty in the way 
of the scheme would be obtaining Che assent of Con- 
gress to it ; but he believed this could be surmounted. 
As an inducement he would offer to carry the mails for 
nothing, thus saving the country thirty millions yearly. 
He would also divide with the government all sums 
payable as dividend to the stockholders in excess of 
the fixed four per cent. He believed this would be 
popular. Besides, he had already secured the services 
of the leading railroad lawyers, Senator Evarts and 
Senator Edmunds, and also of all the legal men of 
lesser note, though not perhaps of lesser ability, in the 
House of Representatives. He thought that they would 
exert themselves to smooth matters in Congress and 
remarked, as the result of his experience, “ that rail- 
road lawyers who are members of the legislature gen- 
erally vote straight on railroad questions.” Further- 
more, he stated that he and his friends had already 
obtained the control of ten roads and he believed that 
other railroad companies would be obliged to join the 
syndicate under the penalty of being “ frozen out.” 
He concluded his remarks by saying : 

“ Now, boys, when this news is published in America, 
as I guess it will be to-morrow morning, a big boom 
in railroads will begin, and those who get in on the 
ground-floor will make their pile. I don’t mind telling 
you that I have been buying steadily since coming to 
Europe and my operations have not been suspected in 
Wall Street. The New York brokers suppose that 
some folks in London have gone crazy and they have 
sold freely without knowing that I have acquired more 
stock in some of the roads than can be supplied. The 
‘ corner ’ which Vanderbilt made in Harlem and Hudson 
River is nothing to mine ; I guess I can ‘ bust ’ half 
Wall Street. Now, then, this is your chance ! Here 
is a list of the roads in which the stock is over-sold. 


CORNERING THE REARS. 285 

There is time enough to cable to New York before the 
stock-board closes to-day.” 

The two correspondents went off to send telegrams 
to their respective newspapers ; the other guests went 
to telegraph to their brokers. On the way to the tele- 
graph office “ Dave ” Jackson said : 

“ Gentlemen, let’s pool this business. If each tries 
to get ahead we may make nothing.” 

The others agreed and a list was drawn up of the 
shares to be bought, it being arranged that the pro- 
ceeds should be equally divided. While the party 
was settling this matter, the correspondent of the JVew 
York Herald had dispatched the first telegram to the 
London office, whence it would be forwarded to 
America. 

Mr. Bayle’s friends were more cordial than usual in 
their attentions to him during that day. He had be- 
come a greater hero in their eyes. They all agreed 
that he was a perfect gentleman ; that there was noth- 
ing mean about him ; that he was real grit and no 
mistake. ^‘There’s no durned humbug about Ez,” 
remarked one ; “ You bet your life on that,” was the 
corroboration of the sentiment which proceeded from 
another ; while a third gave utterance to the confident 
opinion that “ Among all American capitalists Ezra 
P. Bayle takes the cake.” They contemplated present- 
ing him with a testimonial out of the large sum which 
they counted upon making. They calculated that if 
Mr. Bayle insisted upon carrying the price of the 
shares to a high enough figure, each of them would 
clear half a million dollars. 

The whole party rose at daybreak the following 
morning and went to the telegraph office to await its 
opening, as a reply had not arrived before it closed the 
previous night. ‘‘Dave’* Jackson had telegraphed 
to his brother “ Bill,” a broker in Wall Street, and he 
felt satisfied that his brother would carry out his in- 
structions. 

Mr. Jackson did not know that “ Bill ” was one of the 


286 


MISS BA YLE^S ROMANCE. 


brokers who had beared the shares in the companies 
of which Mr. Bayle had been a large and constant 
buyer, nor could he have foreseen what effect his tele- 
gram would have upon his brother. The latter saw 
at once upon reading it that some* speculative move- 
ment was on foot, that simple-minded Englishmen 
were not investing blindly in United States railways, 
and, from the circumstance of “ Dave ” being con- 
cerned in the affair, he feared the worst for himself. 
He had frantically tried to buy shares for his own pro- 
tection, but he failed, as the market was cleared of 
them and speculative sellers were cautious. Before 
the close of the stock-board a panic began. This 
was caused by the publication of a special edition of 
the Evening Telegram containing a dispatch dated 
London. Though grown almost callous to sensa- 
tional headings in newspapers “ Bill ” Jackson shud- 
dered when he read those in the Evening Telegram. 
They filled three-fourths of a column and were as 
follows : 


OLD EZRA ON THE WAR PATH. 

SCALPING THE BEARS. 

COFFINS AT A PREMIUM IN WALL STREET. 

THE GREATEST CORNER SINCE V ANDERBILt’s. 
MONOPOLISTS MUST GO. 

OUR ROADS TO BE RUN BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE. 

I 

A people’s SYNDICATE. 

It has been stated that the first telegram sent off 
was forwarded by the correspondent of the New York 
Herald and that it went by way of London. It ar- 
rived in time for publication in the Evening Telegram 


CORNERING THE BEARS. 287 

of the same day in New York. The telegram was 
much shorter than the heading to it, being as follows ; 

“ Ezra P. Bayle got control of ten roads and formed 
a syndicate to run new ones on popular principles. 
Bears in his clutches.” 

Those who are acquainted with these facts will 
wonder less than “ Dave ” Jackson and his friends 
that the telegram which they received should have 
been as follows : “ No sellers. Dispatch in Telegram 
caused panic. Am caught damnez.” 

The golden dreams of the party vanished as the 
telegram was read. 

“ We’d better go back to bed,” was Dave ” Jack- 
son’s comment. 

“ Hold on,” said another, “ the last word may be 
some sort of cipher and perhaps things are not so bad 
after all.” 

The speaker was requested to read it again, bearing 
in mind, first, that wicked words were not allowed to 
come by cable, and second, that “ Ez ” was short for 
“ Ezra.” He soon interpreted the word and said no 
more. Nor was there any further talk that day of 
presenting Mr. Bayle with a testimonial. 

When the telegram was shown to Mr. Bayle, he read 
it with the equanimity of a philosopher and the stoi- 
cism of a millionaire. The naughty word did not 
vex him. On the contrary he displayed the forbear- 
ance of a Christian who acts up to his professions. 

“Dave,” he said to Mr. Jackson, “let’s fix this 
matter. I don’t wish to squeeze your brother. Cable 
him to make terms for me with the other brokers and 
I will let him off even.” 

“ You’re a noble fellow, Ez,” was Dave’s reply. 
He sent the dispatch containing Mr. Bayle’s terms 
which were not exorbitant, seeing that, as he had 
boasted, he could ruin half of the brokers in Wall 
Street if he enforced his legal rights. They gladly 
accepted his compromise, which left him the richer by 
ten million dollars. Thus he had doubled his fortune 


288 


Af/SS BA YLE'S BOAfANCE. 


at a stroke. Yet he was none the happier or healthier. 
He had no appetite and he could not sleep. 

Congratulatory telegrams and letters poured in upon 
Mr. Bayle. His friends in America begged him to 
return home without delay. Thfey were anxious to 
honor him. Some of them were confident that no 
better candidate than he could be found to succeed 
the late General Logan as Senator for Illinois. They 
even looked forward to nominating him for president 
on the Republican ticket at the next national conven- 
tion. They felt certain that he would make an excel- 
lent candidate, first, because he could contribute 
handsomely to the party fund, and second, because his 
scheme for creating a vast though veiled monopoly in 
place of the many railroad monopolies which were so 
unpopular, was a splendid one for pleasing and impos- 
ing upon the people. Mr. Bayle bore his prospective 
honors meekly. He thanked his friends for their kind 
wishes and plans and he promised to return home as 
soon as his health was re-established. 

The visitors to Homburg learned from The Times 
what a wonderful man Mr. Bayle was and they regard- 
ed him with nearly as much interest as the Prince of 
Wales. A long telegram from the Philadelphia corre- 
spondent of The Times had told the story of Mr. 
Bayle’s financial hit and of the excitement which had 
been caused throughout the Union by the publication 
of his railway project. 

The prince warmly congratulating Mr. Bayle upon 
his enterprise and his professed philanthropy, he said 
in reply, “ Well, prince, I told you at Druid’s Mount 
that your English railroads could be better organized. 
They are dead-alive concerns. The presidents of these 
roads seem to miss ah their chances for making money 
out of them. If some of your big bugs would take 
hold of them, they would do for your country what I 
mean to do for mine and also rake in the shekels.” 

“ I fear, Mr. Bayle, these things can not be done so 
easily in England as you suppose. Your capitalist^ 


CORNERING THE BEARS. 


289 


manage to obtain the control of the railways in a way 
that would not be permitted in England ; besides, 
Parliament is much more difficult to deal with than 
Congress seems to be according to you.” 

“ The truth is, prince, your people are too old- 
fashioned in their ways for this enlightened age. 
They want a good shaking up. They ought to go 
ahead without thinking of the consequences. We have 
fewer prejudices in America.” 

“ Perhaps you have,” was the prince’s response, 
which was uttered in a tone implying “You are none 
the better for that.” The prince added, “An Ameri- 
can gentleman once told me that triumphant cheating 
is regarded as a sign of brains out West, and that dis- 
honesty is there accounted the best policy.” 

“ Don’t you believe it, prince. I guess he was an 
Easterner who had gotten the worst of it at a deal. 
We don’t care a cent for what such a sore-head says.” 

The chronicles of Homburg life during the sojourn 
of the Bayles contain but few interesting episodes. 
Indeed, each day there during the season closely 
resembles another. In the morning, all the visitors 
who can get up and go out before breakfast, proceed 
to the springs, drink the waters, listen to the music 
and indulge in gossip. 

When the public gaming tables were allowed in the 
Casino, the majority of the visitors alleged that they 
went to Homburg to drink the waters, and they drank 
them to keep up the delusion. It was generally 
admitted in those days that, if taken in moderation, 
the Homburg waters did neither much good nor great 
harm. Now they are proclaimed to be highly curative 
of gout, indigestion and other maladies of the rich and 
the noble, and those who follow the fashion swallow 
them in the belief that they will be benefited. 

Moreover, as the leaders of society have decreed 
that lawn tennis must be played at Homburg, the 
visitors, as has been already said, spend the greater 
part of each day in playing it, or in watching those 


i 


290 


MISS BA YLE’S ROMAA^CE., 


who do. After dinner in the evening there is an open- 
air concert ; sometimes there are balls ; but, in general, 
there is no inducement to keep late hours, so most of 
the visitors go to bed very early. Dissipation con- 
sists in walking the silent streets •after ten o'clock at 
night. 

Mr. Bayle and his wife regularly drank the waters 
and took the baths which Dr. Deetz prescribed, and 
Mrs. Bayle thought herself the better for so doing, 
while her husband did not experience any marked 
improvement in his symptoms. Miss Bayle flirted, 
practiced lawn tennis, danced at every ball and pro- 
claimed that she was enjoying a “ real elegant time.” 
Though rather too impatient and displaying more 
energy than skill, she was not the worst tennis player 
in Homburg. Once or twice she played with the 
prince, and then she was the object of envy to English 
young ladies who were not so favored. 

Neither Miss Bayle nor her parents saw much of 
Mr. Wentworth. He, too, had met many American 
friends and» he spent much time in their company. 
They were members of the most exclusive society in 
New York and Boston ; they were proud of having 
Dutchmen or Puritans as ancestors and they despised 
those among their countrymen who were not so favored. 
They would have nothing to do with the Bayles, giv- 
ing as a reason “ we don’t belong to that crowd.” 
Indeed, they not only regarded the Western millionaire 
and his friends with contempt ; but they also said 
very uncomplimentary things of Miss Bayle, denying 
that she was beautiful and pronouncing her manners 
atrocious. They deplored that the prince should dis- 
regard them and associate with a Western girl of no 
family and detestable tastes. But nothing they said 
in dispraise of Miss Ba5de prevented Englishmen from 
admiring and Englishwomen from envying her. 

A somewhat ludicrous incident occurred during the 
last week of their stay. Every Wednesday, weather 
permitting, an enterprising artist appeared at the 


CORNERING THE BEARS 


291 


Elizabeth Spring and took a photograph of th6 com- 
pany. The weather being bad, on two out of the 
three Wednesdays the Bayles were at Homburg, the 
photograph could not be taken till the third and last. 

The prince happened to be on the spot that morn- 
ing and he acceded to a request to remain there till 
the photograph was taken. Mr. Bayle and his daugh- 
ter stood beside him ; Mrs. Bayle had not come down 
to the springs that morning. In general, when these 
photographs are taken, each person tries to be as con- 
spicuous as possible and the artist has to request the 
persons present not to push too far forward. On this 
occasion the universal desire was to get a good view 
of the prince, Mr. Bayle and his daughter. On the 
negative being developed, it was found that the ill- 
directed curiosity of those who were behind the Prince 
of Wales had spoiled the picture. Every neck was 
strained and every eye was turned toward the place 
where the prince, Mr. Bayle and his daughter stood, 
and the artist had to suppress the absurd photograph. 

A pleasanter remembrance of the sojourn of the 
Bayles at Homburg was a splendid entertainment 
given by Mr. Bayle in the regal rooms of the Casino. 
After deciding upon giving it, he invited the prince to 
grace the ball with his presence and his request was 
granted. He was mo.st generous'in issuing invitations 
and all who were asked gladly accepted, with the ex- 
ception of some of the aristocratic Americans already 
referred to. Mr. Wentworth attended, chiefly to please 
Lord Plowden Eton, who pressed him to do so after 
hearing from Miss Bayle that she would be gratified 
if he were her father’s guest. Mr. Bayle spared no 
expense to make the ball a success : it cost more and 
it was more brilliant than any which had been given 
in Homburg. Miss Bayle danced with the prince and 
was happy. He danced with other American as well 
as with some English young ladies also, and thus he 
diffused much thorough and harmless gratification. 

The day succeeding this ball was devoted partly to 


292 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


resting from the toil of pleasure and partly to prepar- 
ing for leaving Homburg. Next morning the exodus 
was so large that the sound of the German tongue 
was again heard in the shops and streets. The prince 
returned to England ; Mr. Wentworth started for 
Paris on his way to Bordeaux ; Lord Plowden Eton 
went to London. in order to visit Sandringham a week 
later, the prince having invited him to shoot partridges 
there ; Mr. Bayle, his wife and daughter went off 
in the company of their friends the Johnsons for a 
tour through Switzerland and Italy. 

Dr. Deetz had impressed upon Mr. Bayle the neces- 
sity of cutting himself off from all business cares, 
and advised him to travel about for a month or two 
and not to have any letters forwarded to him. Mr. 
Bayle desired to return home before the end of the 
year, in order to prosecute his great railway scheme ; 
but he wished to see Monte Carlo before leaving 
Europe and his plan was to get there about the end of 
October when the season would begin. 

Before parting with Lord Plowden Mr. Bayle men- 
tioned his plan and said that he should be glad to see 
him at Monte Carlo ; Mrs. Bayle was still more em- 
phatic in expressing a like wish ; Miss Bayle clenched 
the matter by adding, “ It would be real nice if we 
saw the place together again. Mr. Wentworth told 
me he will probably be there, so we should make quite 
a party.” Lord Plowden gladly promised to join 
them in Monte Carlo at the end of October. Indeed, 
if it had not been for the prince’s invitation, which he 
could not well refuse, he would most willingly have ac- 
companied the Bayles on their tour through Switzer- 
land and Italy. 


CHAPTER XXX. 

UNCLE Cecil’s end. 

M r. WENTWORTH staid at Paris on his way to 
Bordeaux. He did so in order to inquire about 
his uncle Cecil whom he had expected to meet at Hom- 
burg. The uncle and nephew seldom corresponded ; 
but the nephew always made a point, when he visited 
Paris, of calling at his uncle’s rooms in the Champs 
Elysdes and' this mark of attention on Rupert’s part 
always gratified his uncle. Had they seen more of 
each other they might not have remained on such good 
terms. They had little in common except their rela- 
tionship. Their tastes differed in one important respect. 
The uncle was never perfectly happy out of Paris ; 
the nephew had never been thoroughly happy in it. 

Rupert Wentworth found his uncle confined to his 
room and very ill. He had been ailing since his run 
to Monte Carlo and back. Mr. Cecil Wentworth was 
what the doctors call a bad patient. With the excep- 
tion of a slight attack of influenza he had seldom been 
ill since his boyhood, and the man who attains the 
age of fifty-six without denying himself any pleasure 
and without suffering in health can not understand 
why he should ever be indisposed. When Mr. Cecil 
Wentworth had the premonitory symptoms of the ill- 
ness which proved to be serious, he neither took pre- 
cautions nor physic. On the contrary, he drank an 
extra bottle of wine daily under the notion that he 
was “ run down ” and required stimulants. 

What Mr. Cecil Wentworth really required was a 
low diet, to eat nothing more heating than bread and 


294 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANBE. 

drink nothing more intoxicating than water. A week 
before his nephew saw him he had an apoplectic fit. 
Though the stroke was severe, he rallied very quickly. 
His doctor impressed upon him the necessity for self- 
denial and hinted that he had better communicate 
with his relations. He disregarded the advice and 
laughed at the hint, persistingly acting on the suppo- 
sition that he was “ run down ” and would be all right 
as soon as the weather became cooler and less 
exhausting. 

“ Delighted to see you, Rupert,” was his greeting 
to his nephew ; “ this hot weather has upset me, but I 
shall soon be all right again. Come and dine this 
evening and I’ll give you a bottle of as good Heidsick 
as you would get at the Somerset Club and a bottle of 
better Pomard than you will procure for money in 
Paris.” 

“ I shall come with pleasure. Uncle Cecil. But your 
servant tells me you are still in the doctor’s hands, so 
I hope you won’t exert yourself on my account. If 
you had let me know you were ill I should have 
started at once to see you.” 

“ I know that, my boy, but there’s not really much 
the matter with me. The great heat overcame me — 
that’s all ! I have been rather slow in completely re- 
cuperating. If I did not feel so weak I should start 
off at once for America. The voyage will put me 
right. However, I hope to go next week. Indeed, I 
have secured a berth in the Normandie y which sails 
from Havre then.” 

After leaving his uncle, Mr. Rupert Wentworth 
called upon Mr. Orlando W. Fisher, an American 
banker whom he knew to be his uncle’s most intimate 
friend in Paris, and told him that he was shocked to 
find his uncle looking so ill. He asked Mr. Fisher to 
use his influence in persuading his uncle to take care 
of himself and to get him to consult and trust an ex- 
perienced physician. 

“ I have done my best,” Mr. Fisher said, “ but with- 


UNCLE CECirS END. 


295 


out much effect. I have remarked a great change in 
your uncle lately. He seems to have grown old all at 
once. Before his attack he seemed quite out of 
health. He refused to see a doctor. His servant 
came to me when he had his fit and I at once asked 
Dr. John Chapman, who, though an Englishman, is 
much liked by our people here, to attend him and I 
think Dr. Chapman’s skillful treatment brought him 
round so soon. Your uncle likes the doctor ; but 
does not strictly follow his advice. Only this morn- 
ing I saw Dr. Chapman, who told me that unless your 
uncle exercised the greatest care and avoided all ex- 
citement, the issue might be serious.” 

In consequence of this information Mr. Wentworth 
resolved to remonstrate with his uncle and, in any case, 
to stay with him till he was able to start for America. 

He was rather surprised on returning in the evening 
to find his uncle in excellent spirits and looking well. 

“ Come, Rupert,” he said, “ you shall have a treat. 
I don’t suppose you’ve had a genuine American cock- 
tail lately. I have taught F^lix, my French servant, 
to mix drinks and I brought some real old Bourbon for 
the purpose the last time I crossed the Atlantic. He 
can make a cocktail better than he can talk English, 
though he professes to know English perfectly.” 
Then he called to his servant, “ Hurry up, Felix, with 
the cocktails.” 

“Surely, Uncle Cecil,” remarked his nephew, “this 
must be bad for you at present ? ” 

“ Never fear, my boy, a good cocktail taken imme- 
diately before dinner can not hurt a baby.” He drank 
the contents of the glass with evident satisfaction and 
said, “ Now then, let’s sit down to dinner ! I declare 
I feel more like eating something than I have done 
for weeks. Your visit has done me more good than 
all Dr. Chapman’s advice ! ” 

The dinner was a choice one. Mr. Cecil Wentworth 
had devoted his leisure to the study of eating and 
drinking ; he had educated his palate with as great 


296 


M/SS BA VLB’S ROMANCE. 


assiduity as a man of intellect educates his mind, and 
he was as acute in detecting a bad savor in viands or 
a bad flavor in wines as a great scholar is in detecting 
an error or obscurity in the text of a Greek play. 
Having become a perfect judge of iood and wines, he 
took great pains always to have the best of both. On 
this occasion he ate little ; but he drank freely and 
seemed to enjoy himself. While the uncle and nephew 
were smoking their cigars after dinner, the first topic 
of conversation was Mademoiselle Elsa. 

Mr. Cecil Wentworth began : “ So you’re not mar- 
ried yet, Rupert ? What's the trouble ? Nothing 
really wrong, I hope ? ” 

Mr. Rupert did not think it necessary to tell the 
whole story, so he replied : “ Monsieur Pessac wishes 
the marriage delayed for sixty days. I am now on my 
way south to make the acquaintance of his elder 
brother, who lives near Bordeaux. Afterward I shall 
proceed to Monaco.” 

“ My advice is, don’t lose more time that you can 
help. I have made things all right for you in Boston. 
Every one there will be glad to welcome your wife. 
Indeed, I envy you. I wish I had been as wise when 
I was your age ! ” 

“ Why, uncle, you used to tell me that your married 
life was a happy one ! ” 

“ I did not refer to that. One may not draw a blank 
in the marriage lottery and yet one may fail to win the 
first prize. What I mean is that you have always had 
an object in life. You have not been loafing about 
Europe like so many of our folks, or like me for that 
matter. If I had been a student like yourself, I might 
have spent a more useful life.” 

Mr. Rupert quivered under the compliment which 
was an unintentional reproach. His uncle, in common 
with his other relations in America, entertained the 
belief that he was an earnest student, devoting all his 
energies to the production of some great work which 
would do credit to him and be an honor to his conn- 


UNCLE CECWS END. 297 

try. They were unaware how his high resolves had 
waxed feeble and how his serious studies in philosophy 
had been exchanged for desultory reading which occu- 
pied his time without bearing fruit. Being touched by 
his uncle’s avowal, he inwardly formed a resolution to 
turn over a new leaf and again become the ardent 
student of earlier years. 

Before bidding him good-night, his uncle said : “ I 
suppose you’re at the Grand Hotel as usual. If you 
like to come here, a room is at your service and you 
will be your own master.” 

“ I shall be delighted, uncle. Indeed, as I am not 
due at Monaco for two months I shall be glad to take 
a trip with you to America.” 

“ Of course I shall be delighted if you do so. Your 
aunt, who is now in Longfellow’s old cottage at 
Nahant, will be greatly pleased if you spend a few 
days with her there before you return. However, we 
can talk over that to-morrow. Tell me your number 
at the hotel, and I’ll send F^lix in the morning to fetch 
your baggage.” 

Just as he was leaving the room, his uncle called 
him back, saying, “ Here, you may take this with you. 
It is a note written after getting over my attack and 
when I felt more gloomy than I do now. In fact, I 
feel as well to-night as I have ever done in my life. 
You will see that I wrote your London address on the 
envelope ; but I put off mailing it.” 

Mr. Rupert took the note, said good-night again, 
and went off with a lighter heart than when he entered 
the house. He was no longer uneasy about his uncle, 
who seemed to have became quite his old self. 

Mr. Rupert read the note before going to bed. It 
was so short that it may be given in full : 

“ Dear Rupert : 

“ I have been very sick and am still confined to my 
room. If you are not far from Paris, I shall be glad 
if you can come and see me. My doctor, who appears 


298 M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

a sensible man, talks rather despondingly about me ; 
but I am sure he is over-anxious as I feel better every 
day without taking his prescriptions. Still there is no 
harm in my telling you that, in case of accidents, I 
should like to lie in the family vauh at Mount Auburn. 
Newton Jones, whom you know, manages all my 
affairs on the other side and he has got my will. I 
have always regarded you as a son and I am sure you 
will do honor to our family. When I am gone you 
will get half my property during your aunt’s life and 
the other half at her death. The house in Beacon 
Street which was your father’s and which I bought 
after his death will be yours after me. 

“ Your affectionate uncle, 

“Cecil Wentworth.” 

When Mr. Rupert Wentworth was dressing in the 
morning, his uncle’s servant, Felix, knocked at the 
door. On being admitted he said that his master was 
very ill and that the doctor had sent him with a mes- 
sage to that effect. Mr. Wentworth sent him to call 
a cab and they drove rapidly to the house in the 
Champs Elysdes where Mr. Cecil Wentworth occupied 
rooms. 

On reaching the house, he met Dr. Chapman and 
learned from him that his uncle had breathed his last 
.a few minutes previously. He had rung for his ser- 
vant on getting out of bed and Felix found him almost 
unconscious in a chair. Felix sent for Dr. Chapman, 
who lived close at hand, and who came at once. See- 
ing that the case was very serious, Dr. Chapman sum- 
moned to his aid Dr. Chabord, an eminent French 
surgeon who lived in the neighborhood. But the case 
was hopeless ; the second attack of apoplexy, which 
Dr. Chapman had dreaded, proved fatal. On learning 
from Mr. Rupert Wentworth how his uncle had passed 
the preceding evening, he said that 'nothing could 
have been more foolish, or more akin to self-destruc- 
tion. 


UNCLE CECinS END. 


299 

Mr. Cecil Wentworth's death was deeply regretted 
by many persons in Paris. He was popular both in 
the most exclusive set of the American colony and in 
the best French society. He was one of the very few 
Americans who had gained admission into the Jockey 
Club. His position and popularity entailed the penalty 
of an obituary notice in Ee Figaro^ which may be freely 
translated as follows : 

“ The death of M. Cecil Wentworth is a great loss 
to Parisian ‘ high life.’ Though a descendant of the 
rough pioneers who made their homes in^jthe New 
World, M. Wentworth had lived long enough in Paris 
to be transformed into a perfect gentleman. It was 
even difficult to tell from his dress and accent that he 
was not a pure Parisian. He enjoyed the privilege, 
rarely accorded by his compatriots, of admission into 
our best society, and he showed himself worthy of the 
honor. He was a member of the Jockey Club and an 
ardent and accomplished ‘ sportsman.’ 

“ All true Frenchmen listened with just pride to M. 
Wentworth’s expressions of gratitude to our noble and 
magnanimous France for having freed his country 
from the domination of haughty and perfidious Albion. 
His services during the International Exposition of 
1878 were recompensed with the Cross of the Legion 
of Honor. As our readers are aware this dignity is 
coveted by Englishmen more than that of being Lord 
Mayor of London and by Americans more than that of 
being President of the United States. Our readers 
will unite with us in regretting that the mortal remains 
of so thorough a Parisian as M. Wentworth should not 
rest in the city which he loved so well. 

“ The Americans resemble the Chinese in disliking 
to be buried out of their native country ; hence 
arrangements have been made by his heart-broken 
nephew to convey the body in the Normandie to the 
New England in which he was born. Though a native 
of a republic, M. Wentworth professed an affection for 
the House of France as sincere as that of our loyalists 


300 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


and in this respect he formed a pleasing contrast to the 
vulgar republican tyrants who are disgracing and ruin- 
ing our beautiful and beloved country.” 

When Mr. Rupert Wentworth 'Vead this notice he 
could have strangled the writer. At first he thought 
of penning a formal protest ; but, on reflection, he 
thought that he might get the worst of it, as the writer 
might hold him up to public execration as the unworthy 
nephew of an excellent uncle. He further reflected 
that what displeased and disgusted him might delight 
others. Accordingly he forwarded a copy of Le 
Nigaro to M. Pessac, along with a letter in which he 
intimated his intention of going to America ; he said, 
moreover, that his stay there would be very short and 
that he would keep his promise of visiting Monaco at 
the end of October. He ended by sending his respect- 
ful compliments to Mademoiselle Pessac and Made- 
moiselle Elsa and by hoping that all the members of the 
family were well. 

He received a long letter of condolence by return of 
post. M. Pessac wrote that he was at once deeply 
afflicted to hear of Mr. Cecil Wentworth’s death and 
extremely glad to hear that he was so good a man and 
such a warm friend to France. He added that his 
sister fully shared his feelings and that they both 
applauded Mr. Rupert’s devotion in accompanying his 
uncle’s remains to America. Indeed, the notice in Ze 
Figaro and the letter of Mr. Rupert Wentworth had 
entirely won M. Pessac’s heart. He no longer regarded 
him as a foreigner in any thing but the name. His 
sister’s admiration for Mr. Wentworth increased. 
Mademoiselle Elsa alone felt sad. When her aunt 
told her the news, she cried bitterly and said : 

“ Ah ! he will never return ! He will meet and 
marry a lovely American ! ” 

Her fear was prompted by jealousy as much as love. 
Her aunt failed to console her. The poor girl was too 
deeply affected to be easily comforted. From that 
time the debility from which she had suffered at Horn- 


UNCLE CECIL'S END. 


301 


burg and which seemed to have been arrested, became 
more marked. She pined slowly away. 

However, Mr. Wentworth returned to France again 
at the appointed time. He had nothing to detain him 
in Boston after the funeral was over. His uncle’s 
affairs were in perfect order. His own income was 
increased by twenty-five thousand dollars a year or 
five thousand pounds sterling. He had the prospect 
at his aunt’s death of a further increase to the like 
amount. He had an additional piece of good-luck 
which was wholly unexpected. 

At his father’s death, as has already been stated, he 
became the possessor of several shares in a Lake 
Superior copper mine. He was told that they were 
valueless, the company having , ceased to work the 
mine and being unable to find a purchaser for it. A 
purchaser had suddenly and unexpectedly appeared 
and made an offer for the property which was condi- 
tional upon his succeeding in forming a company in 
England to re-open and develop it. The company 
was formed, the English mining engineer, who was 
sent to inspect it, having professed his confidence that 
he would beat the Yankees on their own ground and 
make the mine remunerative. The price agreed upon 
was paid ; English shareholders took the places of 
Yankee ones and English gold passed into Yankee 
pockets. Both parties were satisfied, with their bargain 
at the outset, though it turned out in the long run 
that the Yankees had displayed the greater wisdom. 
Mr. Wentworth’s share of the proceeds was ten thou- 
sand dollars, or two thousand pounds sterling. 

He crossed the Atlantic direct to Bordeaux in the 
Chdteau Leoznlle belonging to a French line of steamers. 
He lost no time in calling upon M. Victor Pessac, the 
elder brother of his future father-in-law. M. Victor’s 
house and vineyard were near Paulliac. On his way 
thither, Mr. Wentworth saw a house for sale which took 
his fancy and the idea occurred to him to buy it and 
allow M. Hector Pessac to live there and cultivate the 


302 M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

few acres which surrounded it. He stopped and made 
inquiry about terms. He learned that the house was 
called Chdteau Beaulieu and that the price was fifty 
thousand francs, being exactly the sum which he had 
received for his shares in the Lake Superior copper 
mine. 

After introducing himself to M. Victor Pessac and 
being cordially welcomed by him and his wife, he 
broached the subject of Chdteau Beaulieu and was told 
that the property had been once a valuable one, but 
that the terrible phylloxera had destroyed the vines ; 
hence the owner, having been rendered almost penni- 
less, was forced to part with it. The price now asked 
was a fifth lower than would have been asked a few 
years before. At that time the wine of Chdteau Beau- 
lieu had a high reputation and the brand was a favor- 
ite one. Since then all the vines had been uprooted 
and an American variety planted in their stead. 

The American vines had just begun to bear fruit ; 
but how the wine made from the grapes would turn 
out was considered quite uncertain. Yet Mr. Went- 
worth did not share the doubts which prevailed in the 
locality ; on the contrary, as he was confident that 
American vines would do credit to an American pro- 
prietor, he resolved to purchase the property. M. 
Victor Bessac offered to conduct the negotiations. 
His offer was accepted with thanks and he was in his 
element when driving a bargain with the existing pro- 
prietor. Had the proprietor known that a rich Ameri- 
can was the actual purchaser he would have made no 
reduction in the price demanded. As it was, he con- 
sented to take ten per cent, less for cash. When he 
found that Mr. Wentworth was to succeed him, he 
repented doing this, M. Victor, on the other hand, was 
proud of his work and Mr. Wentworth thanked him 
heartily for the trouble he had taken and for his suc- 
cess as a negotiator. 

“AVell, you see, sir,” was M. Victor’s remark in re- 
ply to Mr. Wentworth, “I regard the. matter as a 


UNCLE CECIUS END. 303 

family one. You are soon to be one of us. I may 
say frankly that I should not have taken so much 
trouble for a mere stranger.” 

Now, Mr. Wentworth was not wholly reconciled to 
becoming one of the family. He liked M. Victor 
Pessac, the vine-grower, far less than M. Hector 
Pessac, the croupier. The latter was a man of the 
world and a gentleman in manner ; the former was a 
peasant in his ideas and his habits. M. Victor seemed 
more at home in his kitchen than in his drawing-room. 
On week days he went about in a blowse and wooden 
shoes : on Sundays he seemed very uncomfortable in 
his best clothes. He read nothing but the Vine 
Grower 5 Almanac and La Gironde newspaper ; he 
cared for nothing but what had some relation to vine- 
yards and wine. Politics he eschewed. He held that 
the best form of government for his country was the 
one under which the taxes were lightest. He was an 
habitual abstainer in the sense of never voting. Un- 
less obliged to visit Bordeaux on business, he never 
spent a night out of his own house. 

M. Victor Pessac labored in his vineyard ; his wife 
did most of the housework. They had no children. 
They would have been supremely happy had a boy or 
girl been born to them, as the boy would have helped 
his father in the fields and the girl her mother within 
doors. At first Mr. Wentworth did not relish the 
prospect of becoming their neighbor and a member of 
their family circle. Yet he was prepared to find them 
wanting in polish. He knew that a mere tiller of the 
soil is seldom refined. He had read about the life led 
by Paul Louis Courier at his Chdteau in Touraine, and 
he remembered that the habits of that consummate 
master of style were not more refined than those of M. 
Victor Pessac who could not write a sentence which 
any one would admire. But, in his actual character 
as a vine-grower, the great Paul Louis Courier was a 
counterpart of M. Victor Pessac. 

After ten days’ acquaintance, Mr. Wentworth liked 


304 M/SS BA YLE'S^ ROMANCE. 

M. Victor Pessac much better than at first. His spirit 
of independence and his unconventionality reminded 
him of the New England farmers who, though rough 
in their ways, are sQund at the core. He had suffi- 
cient experience of French polish to value French 
sincerity. 

Mr. Wentworth felt that M. Victor Pessac could be 
trusted and that he was emphatically an honest man. 
He would not choose him for a constant associate ; 
but he could spend some time in his company with 
perfect satisfaction. Indeed, he learned from meeting 
him to regard the French tillers of the soil and the 
vine-growers in particular from a new and better point 
of view. He saw that peasant proprietors such as they 
formed the backbone of the French people and con- 
stituted the true strength of their country. It is a 
misfortune that French novels present unreal pictures 
of French society and that strangers so often regard 
the volatile Parisians as true representatives of the 
French people. There is no people which is so dif- 
ferent and so superior beneath the surface. Mr. Went- 
worth was gradually getting rid of his foolish preju- 
dices and learning that the domestic virtues are no- 
where cultivated more thoroughly than in France. 
He no longer regretted the prospect of mixing with 
the French at home and learning to know them more 
intimately. 

He agreed with M. Victor Pessac as to how his 
property should be managed, M. Pessac undertaking 
the superintendence of it till other arrangements could 
be made. For his trouble he was to receive the prod- 
uct of the year’s vintage. At parting, M. Pessac 
said : 

“ M. Wentworth, I am a man of few words and bad 
at paying compliments ; but I can assure you I am 
very glad my niece will have so good a husband as you 
will be to her. If I can ever do any thing for you, 
count upon me.” 

His wife, Mme. Annette, who was present, added : 


UNCLE CECILS END. 


305 


“Yes, my dear sir, I quite agree with my husband. 
You will always be most welcome here. We are both 
sorry that you have not staid with us instead of 
remaining in the hotel at Paulliac.’' 

Mr. Wentworth reciprocated the kind expressions 
which he felt to be really meant. That he was right 
in so thinking is proved by the following letter which 
M. Victor wrote the same evening to his brother, 
Hector. It was a rare thing for him to write a letter, 
and his doing so on the present occasion showed him 
to be thoroughly in earnest : 

“ My very dear Brother : 

“ The American left us to-day. He goes to Arca- 
chon before starting for Monaco. Annette and I 
did not like him at first sight ; he seemed as stiff as 
any Englishman, and Annette felt certain that he did 
not like us. However, his manner changed after a 
few days, and we both esteem him highly and think 
you very fortunate in having secured such a son-in-law. 
Do you remember Chateau Beaulieu., belonging to old 
Bonfils ? When a boy you always said you would 
rather be proprietor of it than King of France ? Well ! 
the American has bought it, so I suppose you will live 
there some day. I am to look after it for the present. 
I hope you will soon carry out your plan of retiring on 
your savings and coming to live here. You will find 
the country greatly changed since you saw it last. The 
phylloxera has nearly ruined it. I should have told 
you the American has given me a hint for getting rid 
of that pest which has been tried at my suggestion by 
a neighbor, who has found it to answer better than 
any other. It consists in drenching the roots with a 
decoction of aloes, and it has the great merit of not 
being expensive. If it should do as well as it promises, 
your future son-in-law will have proved to be a bene- 
factor both to our department and to France. 

“All affectionate greetings to my sister and niece, 
from your brother, Victor.” 


3o6 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


Mr. Wentworth had promised Mademoiselle Pessac 
that he would not omit to visit Arcachon whenever he 
was in the neighborhood of Bordeaux. He had passed 
through Bordeaux more than once without going to 
see that watering-place, and this omission was the only 
serious fault which she could lay to his charge. She 
regarded the place as a heaven upon earth. In her 
eyes Monaco was not nearly so beautiful or delightful. 
Arcachon had the advantage of being in her native 
place, and, being an enthusiastic Frenchwoman, she 
allowed more than their due weight to these con- 
siderations. 

Expecting too much, Mr. Wentworth was disap- 
pointed with Arcachon. Its charms were different 
from those of Monaco and, as he thought, very inferior, 
though they were by no means contemptible. He had 
gathered from Mademoiselle Pessac’s account that the 
pine woods, which are the greatest attraction of the 
place, bordered the sea, whereas he found that a row 
of streets and houses runs between them and the shore. 
During the time he staid there the weather was wet 
and the air was very chilly for the season of the year, 
whereas he had been led to expect perpetual summer. 
Still, he was pleased to have visited Arcachon and not 
indisposed to return. He saw several villas any one 
of which would suit him very well as a place of resi- 
dence, and he thought that, when tired of residing near 
Paulliac and anxious to be away from his father-in- 
law, he might find in the health of himself or of his 
wife an excuse for taking a villa at Arcachon. 

Now that the time for his marriage drew near, he 
indulged in plans for the future and his ’schemes were 
no longer bounded by his own wishes or require- 
ments. For the first time in his life he made plans 
for two persons and he was most anxious to devise 
what would give the utmost pleasure to the second. 

He was to be happy as he had never been before ; 
this is the forecast of every expectant husband. In- 
deed, he would become a new man. A loving com- 


UNCLE CECirs END. 


307 


panion would share in his less serious studies, which 
would be so chosen as to interest and entertain her. 
He contemplated a course of reading in which light 
literature would occupy a large place and which would 
prove as serviceable as the perusal of graver books for 
the completion of the comprehensive philosophical 
work on “ The Problem of Existence,” which had been 
the dream and the ambition of his life. Mr. Went- 
worth flattered himself with the belief that his exist- 
ence was not to be wasted and that his marriage was 
to be the turning-point in his career. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


A REMARKABLE AMERICAN. 

HEN the Bayles and the Johnsons started from 



Homburg they formed a party of eight. Their 


luggage seemed sufficient for the wants of a regiment. 
It consisted of five Saratoga trunks, of seven valises 
or portmanteaus and of bags and bundles by the doz- 
en. The total weight exceeded a ton. The extra 
charge made for it would have kept a small family in 
comfort for a week. Mr. Bayle had been told that 
much trouble would be saved if he took a courier. 
Mr. Johnson opposed this on the ground that he had 
once traveled with a courier and vowed that he would 
never do so again. 

“ Leave every thing to me," he said, “ I have learned 
the ropes. I’ll teach you some wrinkles in European 
travel." 

He was taken at his word, and he certainly saved 
the others a great deal of trouble. For his own part, 
he never worked harder or felt more anxiety in his 


life. 


The Johnsons numbered five. The father and 
mother were a good deal past middle-age ; Henrietta, 
commonly called Hattie, was the eldest of their chil- 
dren and was a little over eighteen ; Marian, com- 
monly called Minnie, was just seventeen ; Abel, 
junior, commonly called Cain to distinguish him from 
his father, was a lad between fifteen and sixteen. 
When Mrs. Bayle’s meeting with them in Paris was 
referred to, some details were then withheld which 
may now be communicated. 


A REMARKABLE AMERICAN. 309 

The father, Abel P. Johnson, was one of the re- 
markable and unpleasant men who make the name 
American a by-word in Europe. Like Mr. Bayle he 
was a New Englander, having been born at Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts ; but he had not enjoyed the 
advantage of completing his education at Harvard 
University. Immediately after leaving school he was 
placed in a dry goods store. Being the possessor of 
a small capital he started in business on his own ac- 
count before he was twenty. Within a year he became 
bankrupt ; he began again and became bankrupt in 
six months. Feeling that New England did not af- 
ford sufficient scope for his energies, he went to Chi- 
cago, began business there and succeeded so well as 
to fail for upward of a hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars within two years. His creditors saw that there 
was no hope of getting any thing unless they helped 
him to start afresh ; they did so ; he prospered or 
appeared to do so, and soon became bankrupt for half 
a million. 

Notwithstanding these reverses, Mr. Johnson lived 
in comfort and he acquired the dubious character of 
“a real smart man.” Mr. Codman, a large creditor 
who was about to engage in “ pork-packing,” offered 
to make him a partner, provided he looked after the 
business and exercised his smartness in so doing, 
without interfering in financial matters. The business 
flourished, and the firm of Codman & Johnson be- 
came the leading one in the trade. Being smitten 
with a desire to travel in Europe, he sold his share in 
the business, the proceeds yielding him an income of 
thirty thousand dollars. 

When in his own country and among his own people, 
Mr. Abel P. Johnson was not remarkable for any pe- 
culiarity of manner or speech. Public opinion keeps 
all Americans on their good behavior at home. In 
like manner the blustering and offensive Briton, who 
disgraces his own country when traveling on the con- 
tinent, is a quiet and commonplace personage in his 


310 MISS BA YLE’S ROMANCE. 

native land. He knows better than to give himself 
airs where he is certain to be snubbed. 

Just as the vulgar Briton becomes an intolerable 
nuisance the moment he lands on the continent, so did 
Mr. Johnson distinguish himself upon going on board 
an Atlantic steamer if any Englishmen were among 
the passengers. He then developed into a noisy, pre- 
tentious and self-asserting personage. His delight 
was to declaim against the effete monarchies of the 
Old World. He was copious with facts in support of 
his assertions and, being grossly ignorant of history, 
most of his facts were blunders. If corrected by any 
English listener, his habit was to inquire of him, 
“ Say, sir, have you read the Constitution of the 
United States ? ” Should the reply be in the negative, 
he would retort, “ Then I can not argue with you till 
you do.” 

One afternoon in the smoking-room of the White 
Star steamer Britannic^ he was talking in his wonted 
strain and had, as he thought, floored an Englishman 
by his usual tactics, when the latter asked him : 

Pray, have you. read Magna Charta2 ” 

“ What’s that, sir ? ” he said. 

The other replied, “ It is the foundation of the 
British Constitution and my advice to you is to read 
it if you can, for it is written in Latin, before you 
attempt to argue about Great Britain.” 

The laugh was turned against him. 

Some of his countrymen, who were present, ex- 
claimed, “ Guess he had you there, Abel ! ” 

“Yes, sir,” was his remark, “I’ve given myself 
away for once. However, don’t bear malice, sir, and 
let’s take a drink. Name your poison.” 

On another voyage a similar scene occurred in the 
smoking-room of the Guion steamer Alaska. On this 
occasion Mr. Johnson was nonplused when, in reply 
to the question whether he had read the Constitution 
of the United States, an Englishman said, “I have 
not only read it, including the Thirteenth and 


A REMARKABLE A A/ERICA AT. 31 1 

Fourteenth Amendments ; but I’ve read Kent’s and 
Story’s Commentaries also.” 

“ I never heard tell of Kent and Story ; but if you’ve 
read our Constitution I’ve nothing more to say.” 

“ Let me advise you, then, to learn something about 
Kent and Story before you profess to understand your, 
Constitution. They are jurists of whom any country 
might be proud.” 

“ Is that so ?” 

“ Guess that’s so ! ” was the response of several 
American listeners. 

Mr. Johnson was glad when the steward’s entry 
into the room gave him the opportunity to change 
the subject by calling out : 

Say, .steward, is yesterday’s run put up yet ? ” 

During the rest of the voyage Mr. Johnson was less 
aggressive in his talk and ever afterward he was less 
ready to presume that every Englishman was wholly 
unacquainted with the Constitution of the United 
States. 

During Mr. Johnson’s early visits to Europe he was 
struck with the comparative cheapness of every thing. 
He found that he could often get as much for a shil- 
ling, a franc or a florin as he could get in America for 
a dollar. At first he was delighted with this ; after- 
ward, becoming more critical, he grumbled at the high 
prices he had to pay. The system of charging in 
European hotels was particularly obnoxious to him, 
and the charges made for candles he considered ridic- 
ulous. 

He was the inventor of a scheme of retaliation 
which has made some Italian and Swiss hotel keepers 
issue notices to the effect that, if the unused parts of 
the candles are taken away they must be paid for ex- 
tra. Mr. Johnson was in the habit of carrying off the 
candles in his bedroom which had not been used at 
all or which had been used for a short time only. 
This Yankee trick did not please the landlords of the 
hotels, nor did it profit Mr. Johnson in the long run. 


312 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


He had filled a candle box and then he did not know 
what to do with it. Moreover he was annoyed by 
having to pay duty on it at more than one custom- 
house. In the end he resorted to the practice of let- 
ting the candles burn all night ; his aim being, as he 
said, “ to get even ” with the landlords, though at the 
cost of some discomfort to himself. 

Mr. Abel P. Johnson was the hero of an episode at 
Naples which led to much correspondence between 
the governments of Italy and the United States, and 
to some excited writing in ill-informed American 
newspapers. To him, as to others who visit Naples, 
the plague of beggars in some parts of the city was 
intolerable. He tried the expedient of walking about 
with all his pockets turned inside out and, for a day, 
this proved effectual. But the beggars were not to 
be beaten. They resolved to give annoyance if they 
could not get alms, so they fairly mobbed him. 

Mr. Johnson had learned how superstitious the 
Neapolitans are about the “ evil eye ” and he had been 
shown how to make the sign which is supposed to 
ward off its consequences. Being more tormented 
than usual one day, he held out his hand in the right 
way and he was pleased to see the beggars fly like 
frightened sheep. His act was equivalent to an inti- 
mation from him that they were cursed with the “ evil 
eye.” As he found this plan effectual, he practiced it 
on all needful occasions. One afternoon, however, a 
number of boys who had pestered him for alms and 
whom he answered by making the sign against the 
evil eye,” first ran off and then they hid themselves 
behind a low wall and pelted him with stones as he 
passed by. He had to run for his life, after being 
struck several times and nearly stunned. Indeed, he 
had a narrow escape, as one stone cut his head open. 
He lodged a complaint with the United States consul 
which the consul forwarded to the minister at Rome. 

Mr. Johnson sent a telegram to a journalist in 
America and when the mail brought back the news- 


A REMARKABLE AMERICAN. 313 

papers he had the gratification of reading a long and 
highly imaginative account of “ The Stoning of an 
American Citizen by Neapolitan Lazzaroni.” 

The result of an official investigation was to estab- 
lish that Mr. Johnson had been imprudent and he 
received in due time a letter from the United States 
minister at Rome to the effect that the Italian authori- 
ties regretted what had occurred. He intimated also 
that, if Mr. Johnson refrained from annoying the beg- 
gars, who had rights which every stranger was bound 
to respect, they would probably refrain from throwing 
stones at him. He considered himself badly used. 
What greatly vexed him was that the American papers 
approved of the advice of the American minister and 
worse still, if possible, was their conclusion that the 
matter was too trivial to make so much fuss about and 
that, if Mr. Johnson had been killed outright, then 
there would be good reason for taking the Italians 
to task. As he did not desire martyrdom in order to 
prove that his grievance was substantial, he left Naples 
with the determination never to return. 

Mr. Johnson boasted of his Puritan ancestry. In 
appearance he was unlike the bluff and burly English- 
men who crossed the Atlantic with John Winthrop. 
His frame was that of an early Puritan run to seed. 
He was tall and slender ; his shoulders were narrow 
and his chest was hollow, yet he did not lack nervous 
energy or physical vigor. He considered himself a 
religious man because he regularly attended church. 
When at sea he spent the greater part of each Sunday 
in his stateroom singing Moody and Sankey’s hymns 
out of tune. His religion had not rendered him 
charitable to his neighbors, nor had it hindered him 
from rising to independence through bankruptcy. So 
long as he kept out of jail, he did not see any harm 
in robbing his neighbor under the form of business. 

His wife was a native of Chicago and was dis- 
tinguished for nothing except a burning desire to 
become a ‘'society lady.” She was qualifying herself 


314 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

abroad to act the part at home. The.three children 
were worse educated than other Americans of their 
years. They had been taken from school in Chicago, 
to travel through Europe, before their education was 
finished. They had been sent to a school in Paris, 
where they acquired a smattering of French. Their 
father had resolved to instill facts into their minds 
through the medium of guide books. Wherever they 
went they were obliged to visit every place of interest 
and note down in the evening what they had seen 
during the day. 

A single specimen of how this system of education 
worked will be as instructive as a large number and 
will save repetition. When the party visited Baden- 
Baden they went to the castle and they were shown 
the place where the Vehmgericht was said to have held 
its sittings. Next morning their father called for 
their diaries and questioned them as to the events 
recorded. 

“ Now, children,” he said, “ what was the Vehm- 
gericht ? ” 

“ A personage in ‘ Anne of Geierstein,’ ” was Hat- 
tie’s reply. 

“ Does the guide book say who wrote that book ? ” 

“ No,” was Minnie’s reply, “ but I know : it was 
written by Byron.” 

‘‘ Oh ! Minnie, how stupid you are ! Coleridge 
wrote it.” 

“You’re both wrong,” was Cain’s comment. “It 
was written by the Vicar of Wakefield, who wrote most 
of the best English books.” 

“ Come now, settle it among yourselves,” observed 
the father. “ The book must have been written by one 
person only, so you can’t all be right. On general 
principles I should say that Byron wrote it, as he seems 
to have been much in these parts.” 

Miss Bayle, who was present, interposed with the 
remark, “ Mr. Johnson, you should get a better guide 
book. If you did, you would probably find that ‘ Anne 


A REMARKABLE AMERICAN. 


315 


of Geierstein ’ was written by Scott. Our teacher at 
Chicago once said that the Vehmgericht was the Vigi- 
lance Committee of the Middle Ages.” 

“ Write that down, children,” said Mr. Johnson ; “ I 
am glad to hear that the Middle Ages had any thing 
so sensible as a vigilance committee. Thank you. 
Miss Bayle.” 

After this, she was repeatedly applied to by Hattie, 
Minnie and Cain for help in keeping their diaries and 
for explanation of historical references in guide books. 
Her own store of information was soon exhausted and 
she became heartily wearied of being puzzled by 
questions. In truth, Miss Bayle confided to her mother, 
a week after leaving Homburg, that she heartily 
wished they could get rid of the Johnsons. 

The Johnsons, or rather the father of the family, 
soon grew tired of the Bayles as traveling companions. 
He was an energetic sight-seer : he never saw a tower 
without wishing to ascend it and he would not leave 
any picture gallery or museum, church or public 
building, unvisited. Mr. Bayle, his wife and daughter 
had no objection to entering churches or walking 
through picture galleries in order to be able to say 
they had seen them ; but more they would not do, 
and they absolutely refused to ascend towers. By the 
time they reached Ouchy on the Lake of Geneva the 
members of both parties were heartily tired of each 
other’s company. 

They had traveled together for a month and 
another month was to be passed before the Bayles 
were due at Monte Carlo. As usual there was a large 
gathering of Americans in the hotel at Ouchy and 
Mr. Bayle felt disposed to remain there for a week 
or two ; he was the more tempted to do so as his 
friend “ Dave ” Jackson was staying in the hotel. 
The subject was talked over the night of their arrival 
at Ouchy ; but nothing was settled. Mr. Johnson 
was anxious that they should all go together as far as 
Florence, where he had resolved to pass the winter in 


3i6 


A//SS BA YLE^S ROMANCE. 


order that his children should learn Italian. He sud- 
denly changed his mind in the morning. 

Mr. Johnson was generally out of bed before the 
others. On the morning after reaching Ouchy he had 
bought a newspaper and ordered breakfast before the 
rest of the party had entered the public breakfast 
room. As the hotel was crowded, the party had been 
unable to get a private sitting-room as they usually 
did in the hotels they visited. An Englishman and 
American were seated at the table in the breakfast 
room and they had evidently met for the first time. 
The Englishman’s back was turned to Mr. Johnson ; 
indeed his companion and he occupied a corner where 
they were partly concealed and could not themselves 
see if other persons were in the room. 

The Englishman told the American that he had 
crossed the Atlantic once or twice and said that he 
liked traveling in the United States, adding, “Per- 
haps I ought to tell you at once that I have read your 
Constitution.” 

“ Why so ? ” 

“ Because I had an adventure on board the Alaska 
which made me resolve to say this to every American 
whom I met in traveling. It was my second visit to 
your country, so I had some personal knowledge of it 
and the people. One of your peculiar countrymen 
was a passenger. He seemed to think himself very 
clever ; but I never heard a man display such amaz- 
ing ignorance. His favorite amusement was sneering 
at England. He seemed to think this would annoy me. 
One day as he was indulging in his usual tirade and 
saying that he could not live in a country where there 
were masters and beggars, I interrupted him with the 
remark, ‘ Excuse me, but you have plenty of both in 
America, only there you call masters ‘ bosses ’ and 
beggars ‘ tramps.’ He then asked me whether I had 
read the Constitution of the United States: I was 
able to say that I had, which surprised him, and to 
add that I had read the Commentaries of both Kent 


A REMARKABLE AMERICA AT. 317 

and Story, which surprised him still more, as he said 
he had ‘ never heard tell of them.’ He..did not trouble 
me again. If I ever come across him I mean to ask 
whether he has read Kent or Story’s Commentaries 
and then he will soon shut up. But you now under- 
stand, I suppose, why I put the question.” 

His companion replied, “ Oh ! you should not pay 
any attention to a scallawag like that. Such men are 
as quiet as mice at home, and they behave like idiots 
out of their own country. However, if you’re through 
let’s go out on the terrace and smoke a cigar, and 
have a talk about pleasanter things.” 

Mr. Johnson muttered a word which sounded like 
dash — or something naughtier — the Constitution of 
the United States. He called a waiter and asked the 
names of the two gentlemen : the waiter could only 
tell him that the one had a room numbered 45 and the 
other 54. He went out and looked at the book con- 
taining the names of the visitors to the hotel ; number 
45 turned out to be James Bolsover, Trinity Coll., 
Cambridge. 

“ This will never do,” was his inward remark, “ if I 
stay here this fellow may recognize me and I should 
not like the story to get about.” 

As soon as his own party had sat down to breakfast, 
he intimated that he had met an old friend, “ Ed.” 
Harris, who was to start by the 1 1 :3o train on his way 
to Florence. He had arranged to go too. Mr. Bayle 
resolved to remain at Ouchy ; so the party separated. 
Mrs. Johnson wondered why “ Ed ” did not appear at 
the railway station ; her truthful husband suggested 
that he had either changed his mind or had gone off 
by another train. 

Though Mr. Bayle had not enjoyed himself since 
leaving Homburg, he was in much better health. He 
had not received a business letter for a month. Mr. 
Johnson had not given him leisure to think about busi- 
ness. Now he was eager to receive his “ mail,” that 
is, the letters and papers which were sent to the Amer- 


3I8 


M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


ican International Bank in London. He telegraphed 
for them and he received them in due course of post. 
He was in his natural element again, discussing with 
“ Dave ” Jackson the project of an American railroad 
syndicate. He had made a discovery which he com- 
municated to his friend. 

“ Since traveling in Europe, Dave, I have thought 
of a simple means for getting more money out of our 
roads.” 

“ Do you mean, Ez, to make a new deal ? ” 

“No, I mean by taking a new departure in running 
them.” 

“ That’s easier said than done. You know our peo- 
ple don’t like changes.” 

“ That’s so, but they have to submit to them some- 
times and I guess I can make them do it.” 

“ Well ! I was never good at conundrums. Tell me 
your plan.” 

“ It’s so simple that it will surprise every body at 
home ; but you have lived long enough in England to 
understand how feasible it is.” 

“ Hold on, Ez ; no English fashion will go down in 
America.” 

“ I know that and I don’t mean to say any thing 
about England when I have my own way : on the con- 
trary, I shall appeal to our people to support a dem- 
ocratic and purely American institution. I mean to 
abolish deadheadism.” 

“ Oh ! ” exclaimed Mr. Jackson, drawing a long 
breath. “You don’t say ! But, when I come to think 
of it, there*is no such thing in England. I never got 
the ‘ courtesy ’ of a road there and I suppose you 
haven’t either. It was thought an unprecedented 
mark of respect to allow General Grant to travel over 
English roads without paying any thing. They made 
him pay in Italy, France and Germany and I heard 
that he was surprised.” 

“ I see you have hit it. When I say that every 
body shall pay for transportation, I shall be sustained 


A I^EMARICABLE AMERICAN. 319 

by the people, though the editors of Western news- 
papers will kick. Of course I shall proclaim that this 
is a fresh blow against monopoly and then the Knights 
of Labor, and the other people who don’t want to 
work, will indorse me.” 

“ But will the result be worth all the trouble you 
will have ? ” 

“The result! why, it will mean nearly half per 
cent, extra dividend to the roads that pay any thing. 
At present the people that can afford to pay are car- 
ried free. I am a ‘ dead-head.' I never pay a cent 
for traveling throughout the Union, while the working- 
men who can not get passes pay for their tickets.” 

“ If you succeed you will certainly be popular ; but 
you will have a tough fight.” 

“ That’s but half my scheme. When the syndicate 
is in full blast, I shall propose that whoever pays five 
hundred dollars shall have the power to travel all 
over the Union as often as he likes during a year. 
Now, if a million people do this, then the income will 
be five hundred million and our roads will run like 
greased lightning.” 

“ If you can get the people to take your yearly 
tickets, I have no doubt of it.” 

“ Nor have I much doubt about their being taken. 
I shall advertise the names of all who take them. You 
remember when we had an income-tax how people 
assessed themselves highly because their incomes were 
published in the papers. I was very poor then. I 
. had only five thousand dollars a year ; but I paid the 
tax on ten thousand and got credit accordingly.” 

“ If you carry out your plans, Ez, I guess you’ll 
waken up our people and teach the Europeans a 
lesson. The Vanderbilt family will be nowhere in the 
public estimation. They’ll make you president, sure.” 

“I promise you one thing. When I’m president 
you’ll have an office, Dave.” - 

When Mr. Bayle’s packet of letters arrived, it con- 
tained two for his daughter from Sadie James. Before 


320 MISS BA YLES ROMANCE. 

the party left Ouchy to proceed by easy stages to 
Monte Carlo, Miss Bayle wrote to her friend : 

“ Dearest Sadie : 

“ You are quite mistaken in what you say in both 
your letters which have just reached me here. I am 
not in love with Lord Plowden Eton and I am certain 
he is not in love with me. I have told you already 
that I like him much better than I did when I first saw 
him, but he does not pay me half so much attention 
as he did soon after we met. I was wrong in thinking 
him stupid because he knew nothing about the books 
I liked. He has read them all since and a great many 
more and he remembers what he reads far better than 
I do. Indeed he sometimes makes me quite mad by 
asking questions I can not answer. So now you know 
the exact state of the case. Whenever I fall in love 
I shall let you know. 

“We went to Homburg as I told you we meant to 
do. Mother was much better for being there and she 
says that she has never been so free from malaria since 
she was a girl. Father is still run down ; but he 
thinks he is better than he was at Homburg, where he 
was always fussing over business of some kind or 
other, and where he became so sick that he had to 
call in the doctor one night. The doctor told mother 
that father must be carefully watched and kept from 
getting excited, which made mother very uneasy. 
There is nothing German about Homburg : all the 
natives, even the female helps, speak English and the 
place looks like an English and American colony in 
Germany. It is not so dressy a place as Saratoga. I 
brought a trunkful of new costumes from London and 
put on a fresh one two or three times a day, but I was 
stared at as if I were an Indian squaw and Lord Plow- 
den told me it was not ‘ good form ’ to dress so much. 

“ I think I have forgotten to tell you the English 
are constantly talking about ‘ good form ’ and ‘ bad 
form, which seems to mean that every thing that one 


A REMARKABLE AMERICAN, 


321 


wants to do is ‘ bad form.’ The Americans at Horn- 
burg were as stiff as pokers except a few friends of 
father’s ; the others put on more airs than the English. 
I find the English only want a little thawing to be real 
nice, and it is easy enough to thaw them, all one has to 
do is to speak to them in a friendly way and they at once 
respond ; what they seem to dread is speaking first. All 
the visitors to Homburg grow crazy about lawn tennis ; 
most of them seem to come for nothing but to play at 
it between breakfast and dinner. Lord Plowden 
learned me the game and I played twice with the 
Prince of Wales, which made the American and En- 
glish ladies look as if they would enjoy roasting me 
alive. 

“ We left Homburg with the Johnsons and traveled 
here with them : they went off a few days ago, as Mr. 
Johnson had suddenly met his old friend Ed Harris 
and wanted to travel with him, while father preferred 
stopping here. I think father will soon go home and 
as mother won’t let him go alone I shall probably see 
you again before the first of the winter. Mother 
misses Lord Plowden now that Mrs. Johnson has left 
her. I know that Lord Plowden does not care for me 
because he never proposed to write when we parted. 
I wish he had as I think he would write pleasanter let- 
ters than Tom Bates who, I am glad to hear, is mar- 
ried at last. 

“ Three young Englishmen offered themselves to 
me at Homburg, but I told each that I did not think 
of marrying. Lord Plowden never has done any thing 
of the kind so you see that you are wrong in suppos- 
ing there is any chance of my marrying him. Proba- 
bly when I next write I shall be able to tell you when 
we mean to sail for America.” 


CHAPTER XXXII. 


ELSA PASSES AWAY, 


ORD PLOWDEN ETON and Mr. Wentworth 



reached Monte Carlo several days before the 


Bayles arrived there. A good deal had happened to 
both in the interval. Though old acquaintances they 
stood in a different relation to each other. The change 
in Lord Plowden was very marked. His manner was 
quieter ; he laughed less heartily ; he took life more 
seriously and he appeared to have a load upon his 
mind. Mr. Wentworth, on the contrary, was cheerful 
and seemingly light-hearted ; the sunshine of hope 
gilded his path. 

Soon after arriving, Mr. Wentworth had inquired 
whether Mr. Vincent O’Lorrequer was at his villa or 
was soon expected, and he was told that nothing was 
known of Mr. O’Lorrequer's intentions. Looking 
over the Times one morning he saw a statement to 
the effect that a general election was impending and, 
in the long list of candidates, he found Mr. O’Lorre- 
quer’s name. This was a disappointment. He pur- 
posed telling him of his approaching marriage and 
askmg him to act as best man, in order that every 
thing might be done decently and in order. He once 
thought of appealing to Mr. Beauvoir ; but he felt that 
he was too great a stranger in the circumstances. 
Then he resolved to tell his story and prefer his re- 
quest to Lord Plowden. 

On the evening of the second day after their meet- 
ing he said, “ Eton, you once accepted a trifling favor 
from me ; I wish to ask a greater one from you ; but 


ELSA PASSES A WA Y. 323 

do not hesitate to say ‘ no ’ if you feel the least disin- 
clination.” 

Lord Plowden thought that Mr. Wentworth might 
have been tempted to play and was in want of a tem- 
porary advance and he was ready to oblige him. So 
he cheerfully replied, “ Old fellow, your favor, as you 
call it, is granted : how much do you require ? ” 

“ Oh ! I do not want money. The truth is I am 
going to be married and I wish you to act as best man, 
that is if you have no objections.” 

“ Of course I shall do so most willingly ; but who is 
the happy lady ? or, perhaps, before putting such a 
question, I ought to congratulate you. I quite approve 
of men of our age marrying.” 

“ You used to speak differently when we first be- 
came acquainted. Then you boasted about your bach- 
elor freedom and spoke of marriage as a mistake.” 

“ Did I ? If I did, I must have been joking.” 

“ You seemed quite in earnest ; indeed, most emphat- 
ically so. However, as we are now at one on that head, 
we need not waste words in discussion. I will tell you 
my story.” 

Mr. Wentworth told his story briefly. Lord Plow- 
den listened attentively without interposing a remark. 
When it was finished, he still remained silent, then he 
hastily exclaimed, “ What a beastly cigar ! It won’t 
draw. Excuse me while I light another.” 

The cigar was not really bad ; but Lord Plowden 
was perplexed and, not knowing what to say, he wished 
to gain time to consider. Perceiving his embarrass- 
ment and divining its cause, Mr. Wentworth con- 
tinued : — 

“ I can well suppose that you do not relish the pros- 
pect of my marrying a croupier’s daughter, and that 
you are afraid to offend me by saying so.” 

“ You’ve hit it, old fellow, but pray don’t mind what 
I think ; you are the best judge in such a matter and 
so long as you don’t ask me to approve of what you 
do, I shall gladly help you in any way.” 


324 


MISS BA YLES ROMANCE, 


Thanks, Eton ; if ever the case were reversed, I 
should probably think as you do. Perhaps, however, 
I ought to add a little more to my story before I cease 
to trouble you in the matter.” 

He then described his personal feelings about mak- 
ing a match which might estrange his own family and 
how he had taken counsel of his late uncle, who was 
very sensitive on that point. He continued : “You 
may not know that we are quite as careful in marrying 
well in America as you are in England. The law for- 
bids our having an aristocracy in your sense of the 
term ; but custom has created an aristocracy of feel- 
ing. I think I have read somewhere that personal 
feeling as regards marriage connections prevails to 
such an extent in England that a chimney-sweeper 
would think himself lowered in the social scale by 
marrying a crossing-sweeper’s daughter. The cross- 
ing-sweeper has his views on the subject. It may 
seem very absurd and illogical, yet there is ijiuch hu- 
man nature in it and human nature exercises its rights 
or its unreason as imperiously in America as in En- 
gland. The difficulty in the present case is that a crou- 
pier is commonly supposed to be a rascal ; whereas, in 
fact, a croupier at Monte Carlo is as honest a man as 
any clerk in a bank. He is no more responsible for a 
man or woman losing money at play than a stock- 
broker is for his client losing money by buying or sell- 
ing stocks. The popular prejudice is a popular mis- 
understanding.” 

“ Perhaps you are right,” was Lord Plowden’s re- 
ply. “ I have never looked at the matter from that 
point of view because I have shared the prejudice of 
which you speak. I confess I was taken aback when 
you told your story. I see now that you have care- 
fully considered the matter and have good reason for 
what you do. You may rely upon my acting as your 
best man and pray accept my best wishes. Whenever 
you can introduce me to M. Pessac and his daughter, 
I shall be pleased to make their acquaintance, only 


ELSA PASSES AWAY. 325 

you must act as interpreter, for you know I can not 
speak French so fluently as you." 

“ It is very good of you, Eton, to talk so kindly. I 
am certain that when you are acquainted with the lady 
you will consider me a happy man, and I have no fear 
that you will think badly of my future father-in-law. 
It's getting late. I must say good-night." 

Lord Plowden stood up, seemed confused and then 
said, “ Before doing so, give me a few moments longer 
talk. You have made a confession which I accept as 
a mark of friendship ; let me make one in turn and 
perhaps you will see that I was quite wrong in even 
seeming to think that you were at all foolish in your 
choice." 

“ Never mind about my folly ; a lover is a licensed 
blunderer ; I only hope that you will not outdo me in 
this particular. In any case, you can depend upon 
my showing you I am as genuine a friend as you were 
by saying right out what you thought, instead of ut- 
tering hypocritical commonplaces." 

“ The fact is, Wentworth, I am only in love and not 
yet engaged and preparing for marriage as you are. 
The lady is Miss Bayle, your charming country- 
woman ; do you think she will have me if I pro- 
pose ? " 

“ How?" exclaimed Mr. Wentworth, unconsciously 
relapsing into an Americanism ; he added, “ Do you 
mean Miss Alma J. Bayle, of Chicago ? " 

“ Certainly I do." 

“ Well ! you surprise me quite as much as I can 
have surprised you a few moments ago. You, the son 
of an English duke, thinking of marrying a Western 
girl of no family ! This is as startling a supposition 
as my marrying a croupier’s daughter. Toward the 
end of the last century three beautiful Americans 
married English peers ; but their father was nearly as 
much of an aristocrat by descent and quite as much 
in feeling as an English noble. There is nothing 
aristocratic about Mr. Bayle. Indeed, my family 


326 MISS BA YLE’S ROMANCE. 

would think I had done no honor to it if I were to 
marry his daughter.” 

“ I must say, Wentworth, I can not understand your 
American notions. I hear much about one man being 
as good as another in your country, but I can not see 
any proof of it.” 

“ Perhaps there is no phrase current in our country 
which is greater clap-trap than that one. It sounds 
well enough in a politician’s mouth and it deludes our 
naturalized citizens ; but we who are native born are 
never imposed upon by it. At any rate we do not 
think one woman as good as another. I have heard 
of gentlemen of position in London marrying their 
cooks; but, if a Bostonian did such a thing, his 
friends would get him shut up in a lunatic asylum.” 

“ But Miss Bayle is not a cook.” 

“ Remember, I say nothing against her personally. 
She is not to my taste, yet I think her both beauti- 
ful and bright. Her father, however, is a mere 
shoddy speculator, who has made considerable 
money.” 

“ He calls himself a banker, which is a most respect- 
able employment in England. Still if he be a mere 
speculator, as you say, that is no worse than being a 
croupier.” 

“ In my opinion, it is. M. Pessac is a hard-working 
and honest man. He has never harmed a soul. Mr. 
Bayle’s money has been made at the expense of other 
people, and Mr. Labouchere was not far wrong in call- 
ing him a robber of the widow and the orphan. He 
has now a railroad project in hand which, under the 
guise of serving the people, is designed to transfer 
money from their pockets into those of himself and 
his friends. Let us agree to differ on this point. I 
may appear prejudiced, but I should not care to be 
allied to the Bayle family even if Miss Bayle were ten 
times handsomer and richer.” 

“ Please do not misunderstand me. I would not 
marry her for her money, and it is because she is 


ELSA PASSES AWAY. 327 

reputed to be a great heiress that I am doubtful about 
marrying her, even if she would have me.” 

“ But your family ! What will your father and 
mother say ? ” 

“ I have spoken to my father on the subject and he 
sees no objection to the match. On the contrary, he 
has said that he would be glad to see it take place and 
he has enabled .me to propose to Miss Bayle without 
being reproached as a fortune-hunter, as he has 
promised to let me have five thousand a year should 
the marriage take place. My mother likes Miss 
Bayle.” 

“ In that case I have nothing more to say, except- 
ing to wish you joy.” 

“ Thanks. But I have not yet had your opinion on 
another matter and it is the one about which I am 
most in doubt. Do you think it any use proposing to 
Miss Bayle ? I should not like to be rejected, and I 
fear I might be.” 

“ Now, though I have not been complimentary to 
my fair countrywoman, I must do her the justice to 
say that I believe she will marry no one unless out of 
love and that she will make an excellent wife. Our 
Western girls may seem a little rough ; but they have 
warm hearts and the men who please them are lucky 
fellows. Miss Bayle will not like you any the more 
because you are the son of an English duke.” 

“ I know that. What I rather fear is that she will 
think this is a drawback. I don’t know if I told you that 
she might have become the wife of my French cousin 
Count Louis if she had chosen, and that she laughed 
at the proposal. When at Sandringham I heard that 
she had refused three Englishmen at Homburg ; one 
was a great friend of the prince and a baronet whose 
family is as old as my own and who is a very rich 
man.” 

“ I don’t think, then, I can help you with advice or 
in any other way ; you must take your chance and you 
will have the consolation that if you fail you will not 


328 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


be singular. Besides, there may be a rival on the 
other side of the ocean. However, we shall never go 
to bed if we go on discussing probabilities of this kind. 
In the morning I shall call on M. Pessac and try to 
get him to come to dinner and meet you.” 

Early in the following morning M. Pessac called 
upon Mr. Wentworth. He had much to say and he 
said it with less than his wonted ease. In the first 
place he expressed the regret with which his sister and 
himself had heard of Mr. Cecil Wentworth’s death and 
the admiration which they both entertained for the 
devotion he had shown in taking his uncle’s remains 
across the Atlantic and giving them the burial which 
he desired. He was even more sincere in avowing his 
pleasure at hearing of the visit of Mr. Wentworth to 
his brother, M. Victor, and he insinuated that this 
had afforded great gratification to M. Victor and his 
wife. Nor was he less warm in stating how pleased 
he felt that Chdteau Beaulieu had passed into Mr. 
Wentworth’s hands. It could not, he added, have had 
another proprietor whom he could admire without 
envying. What he said was influenced by the feeling 
that Mr. Wentworth had conclusively proved how mis- 
taken he was in having once rejected him as a son- 
in-law. 

Mr. Wentworth allowed M. Pessac to unburden his 
mind. He discerned his object and he was not sorry 
to find himself placed on a pinnacle of perfection. 
Then, for the first time, he ventured to make a direct 
inquiry about Mile. Elsa and to intimate the desire to 
be allowed to see her again and to do so in the posi- 
tion of an acknowledged and accepted suitor. 

“ I have nothing to refuse you now, my dear sir,” 
was M. Pessac’s reply ; he added with emphasis, 
“You have a right to consider my house your own. 
There is none, I can assure you, in which you can be 
more welcome or in which you ought to feel more 
thoroughly at home.” 

“ Then, may I call this afternoon ? ” 


£LSA PASSES AIVAY, 329 

“ I am really sorry to ask you to postpone your visit 
for a day or two ; but the truth is my daughter has 
been ill and the doctor says she must be kept very 
quiet.” 

What ! Is Mile. Elsa seriously ill ? ” was Mr. 
Wentworth’s inquiry, which he made with genuine 
feeling, yet with sufficient self-command not to forget 
the formal style of mentioning her which he knew to 
be in accordance with French custom. 

• “ She has been very ill ; but, God be thanked, she 
is now recovering and we hope will soon be conva- 
lescent.” 

“ But why did you not tell me this before ? ” asked 
Mr. Wentworth in a reproachful tone. 

“ We did not know it ourselves till quite recently. 
She was delicate when at Homburg ; she continued so 
after returning home ; but neither my sister nor I 
thought that she suffered from any thing- but debility 
due to the fatigue of traveling and to the excitement 
she had gone through. However, when we called in 
the doctor he pronounced that she was suffering from 
the low fever which often attacks those who dwell on 
the rock and that her recovery might be tedious. 
When told yesterday that you had arrived she rallied 
so suddenly that we hope she will be able to leave her 
bed soon and be herself again. My sister sends her 
kindest compliments and she especially enjoined me 
to tell you that the first day her niece is able to be 
moved to the sitting-room, you will be asked to come 
and see her.” 

Four days elapsed before the welcome message 
reached Mr. Wentworth. In the interval he was un- 
nerved and anxious. He begged Lord Plowden to 
excuse him keeping by himself, giving a reason which 
Lord Plowden at once acknowledged as sufficient. 
He had become the ardent and anxious lover again. 
He could think of little but Elsa. He had never 
thought of her in the same way before. All through 
life a thing was endeared to him in proportion to the 


330 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


difficulty or danger in obtaining it. If Elsa had been 
ready to rush into his arms, he would have been dis- 
posed to stand like a statue or turn away. 

He felt almost like a boy again, so full was he of 
life and spirit after receiving a message from Mile. 
Pessac to the following effect : “ My niece is much 
better, I am thankful to say. If you will not stay too 
long, pray call this afternoon. The doctor says she 
may be moved to the sofa in the sitting-room for an 
hour, but she must be spared all strong emotion. I 
think I can trust you not to speak too much or stay 
too long, and I shall be almost as delighted to see you 
as Elsa is sure to be." 

Mr. Wentworth knew that a Frenchman, when en- 
gaged, makes it a point of taking a bouquet of flowers 
to the lady of his choice, if not of his heart, whenever 
he calls upon her. He knew also that Elsa’s favorite 
flower was the camellia. It is not a rare one at Monte 
Carlo ; but it is rare in Germany and she valued it, 
perhaps, on that account. He procured a bouquet of 
the choicest camellias which he could find and went 
with it to M. Pessac’s house in the Rue du Tribufial. 
M. Pessac had not returned from his duties at the 
Casino ; his sister received Mr. Wentworth at the 
door. After an interchange of compliments and pleas- 
ant sayings, she said : 

“ Now, M. Wentworth, you must be a good boy ; 
my niece is still very weak ; don’t stay long and'don’t 
agitate her,’’ and she accompanied him into the room. 

Elsa was lying on the sofa and looking far better 
than he had hoped. Her face was flushed and he did 
not perceive at first sight how much her features had 
shrunk and how thin and pale her hands were. She 
took the bouquet, saying in English and in a low voice : 

“ How beautiful ! you are so kind.’’ 

Mile. Pessac kept up the conversation, alleging that 
her niece must not over-exert herself. At the end of 
a quarter of an hour she said, “ Now, M. Wentworth, 
the doctor would not approve of a longer visit. Per- 


ELSA PASSES AWAY. 33 1 

haps you may be allowed to remain longer to-mor- 
row.” 

“ You are right, mademoiselle,” was his answer ; 
“ I shall say good-by now.” 

He took the hand Elsa held out to him after laying 
down the bouquet which, till then, she had held in it ; 
he pressed it gently and heedless of any objection 
which Mile. Pessac might make, he bent his head and 
kissed Elsa on the forehead. She suddenly threw 
both arms around his neck, whispered in his ear : 
“ Rupert, ich Hebe dichp words which when rendered into 
English, “ Rupert, I love you,” very imperfectly con- 
vey the significance of the German ; he whispered 
back, “ My own Elsa,” dropped her hand ; hastily 
said good-by to Mile. Pessac and left the room. 

“ You are agitated, my dear little one,” said Mile. 
Pessac to her niece, “ pray calm yourself ; Marie and 
I will help you back to bed.” Elsa smiled but said 
nothing. She was gently laid in bed, then she said, 
“ Please bring the bouquet ; it has been left in the 
other room.” Her aunt brought the bouquet, Elsa 
looked at it for a moment, then laid it down, and 
became so pale that her aunt took her in her arms say- 
ing, “ What ails you, my little one ? Are you in pain ? ” 

“ No, my darling aunt ; I am so happy.” She 
heaved a long sigh and her gentle life was over. 

The doctor was sent for and he arrived only to say 
that his services were of no further avail than to tell 
M. Pessac as delicately as he could that the light of 
his life had gone out. 

Elsa Marie Pessac was not fitted to play a con- 
spicuous part on life’s stage. She was not the girl 
whom we meet in French novels, but she was one of 
the many whom we meet in French family circles and 
whose ambition is to be a good daughter, a good wife 
and a good mother. These angels of the hearth are 
disqualified from being heroines of romance. There 
is nothing sensational about them. Indeed, they are 
so unobtrusive as to appear insipid. 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


332 

Yet, while Elsa was so unattractive as a heroine, 
she was none the less fascinating in Mi. Wentworth’s 
eye. His acquaintance with French girls was limited 
and it did not include that of girls in the households 
of French middle-class families. He had seen young 
Frenchwomen on the stage and read about them in 
novels and sometimes he met in private those whom 
he had admired on the stage. From these specimens 
his opinion was formed and it was not a high one. 
Now Elsa was the reverse of any French girl he had 
met. Her simplicity was as marked as her ignorance ; 
having no trace of affectation in her nature she readily 
avowed her desire for further knowledge and she took 
an innocent delight in acquiring it from Mr. Went- 
worth. He found her an apt as well as an eager 
pupil and he took a great delight in playing the school- 
master. 

Mr. Wentworth is not the first schoolmaster who has 
fallen in love with his pupil. Perhaps no one could 
have been more surpri.sed than himself when he real- 
ized the feelings which he entertained for Elsa. He 
had grown unconsciously to find pleasure in her com- 
pany. As soon as this was clearly perceived by him- 
self his difficulties began and he could not make up 
his mind to marry one whose father was croupier in a 
gaming house. The longer he hesitated the greater 
was his perplexity. By slow degrees his doubts had 
vanished and when he last saw Elsa he was as deeply 
in love as his frigid and calculating nature permitted 
him to be. It was when in this frame of mind that he 
heard of her sudden death and the shock was the 
severest he had ever experienced. 

Lord Plowden Eton appeared to feel his friend’s 
loss nearly as keenly as his friend himself. Mr. Went- 
worth was so stunned with the blow that he imper- 
fectly realized how great it was. He felt grateful, 
however, for the earnest sympathy which Lord Plow- 
den displayed and he found relief in opening his 
heart to him. Lord Plowden asked to be allowed 


ELSA PASSES AWAY. 


333 


to attend the funeral and, as M. Pessac did not object, 
he formed one of the few who were present. M. Pessac 
was highly respected both by his colleagues and the 
principal townspeople, many of whom asked to be 
present also ; but he declined their overtures, as he 
wished the last rites to be performed with the simpli- 
city which would have accorded with his daughter’s 
taste. 

The cemetery of Monaco looks upon the sea and 
the side of the rock upon which the palace stands. 
A more beautiful prospect can not be imagined ; the 
spot seems better fitted for a pleasure garden of the 
living than to be a mansion for the dead. They laid 
Elsa beside her mother beneath a small oleander tree 
and a beautiful wreath of camellias was placed upon 
the tomb. 

M. Pessac had resolved to retire at the end of the 
year and he had given notice to that effect. He now 
requested the manager of the Casino to be allowed to 
retire at once. His wish was granted and he was cor- 
dially thanked for his long and faithful service. He 
could not bear to live in Monaco. It was haunted 
with painful memories. Within a week after the fune- 
ral he had completed his arrangements for leaving 
Monaco with his sister. 

The day before M. Pessac and his sister departed, 
Mr. Wentworth had a long conversation with them. 
He said to M. Pessac : “ My dear sir, as you are going 
to Bordeaux, perhaps you will oblige me in one par- 
ticular ? ” 

If I can, I shall do so most heartify.” 

“ Many thanks. You know that your brother has 
agreed to look after my property near Paulliac till I 
can make other arrangements. Now, I wish you to 
relieve me of the burden of making such arrange- 
ments, by consenting to inhabit Chateau Beaulieu and 
treating it as your own. You will find occupation in 
looking after the vineyard and some day you will per- 
haps receive me as your guest.” 


334 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


“ M. Wentworth, what you ask is not a favor : you 
wish to make me your debtor. I am sure you do not 
mean it, but you are really punishing me with your 
kindness. If I had only granted at the time a request 
you once urged, I might be a happier father now.” 

Emotion choked his utterance ; tears streamed 
down his cheeks, while his sister, whose eyes were red 
with mourning for her niece, sobbed aloud. With a 
strong effort Mr. Wentworth maintained his self-con- 
trol, and he did so at the risk of suffocation, so large 
was the lump in his throat. After a short pause he 
observed : 

“Let us try and forget the past, M. Pessac. Your 
consolation and mine must be found in the future and 
your acceptance of my offer will be no slight conso- 
lation to me. Besides, you can have your son to live 
with you and you will provide for him better by train- 
ing him to cultivate a vineyard than by sending him to 
America.” 

This touched the right chord in the old man’s 
heart ; his son’s welfare would be forwarded by the 
proposed plan, and the thought of the future already 
softened the bitterness of the present. 

“ My very dear sir,” he said, after a few moments’ 
reflection, “ I accept your offer, which is most welcome 
as well as kind. But you must allow me to couple my 
acceptance with a condition. I am not rich ; but I 
have saved more 4han enough to live upon, now 
that — ” he nearly broke down again, but mastered his 
emotion, remarking to Mile. Pessac, who was unable to 
restjrain her grief, “ Take courage, sister, do try and 
bear up — ” then turning to Mr. Wentworth, he con- 
tinued, “ now that I have no dowry to provide. 
Well, I may be able gradually to pay for the Chateau 
and grounds and, if you allow me to go there on this 
understanding, I shall proceed at once and summon 
my boy to live with me. He will not only learn to 
tend vines, but ho will be provided for after my 
death.” 


ELSA PASSES A VVA F. 


335 


Mr. Wentworth consented, saying, Let the neces- 
sary papers be drawn up when you arrive at Paulliac 
and if you will let me know when they are ready and 
that you are settled in the Chateau^ I shall pay you a 
visit and sign them.” 

They parted the best of friends. M. Pessac’s spirits 
revived as if by magic. He discovered the silver 
lining in the cloud which overshadowed him. He 
shook hands cordially with Mr. Wentworth and said, 
“ Pray allow me to embrace you ; it will relieve me — ” 
and without awaiting a reply kissed him on both 
cheeks. Mr. Wentworth took Mile. Pessac’s hand and 
raised it to his lips ; but she put her head forward and 
he kissed her for the first time. This was a stranger 
and more trying ordeal to him than submission to a 
loss which strained his heartstrings. 

Mr. Wentworth started for Paris the day after the 
Pessacs started for Bordeaux. He begged Lord Plow- 
den to excuse his keeping him company longer. He 
was in no mood, he said, to meet the Bayles ; besides 
he had business in Paris connected with his late uncle’s 
alfairs. He had neglected attending to it out of his 
desire to keep his tryst at Monaco. Now he was glad 
of the occupation which it would give him. He made 
Lord Plowden promise to inform him of his move- 
ments and the progress of his wooing and, with every 
kind wish, he bade him farewell. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 


JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE AND DUELING 

IV/r OTHER, here is Lord Plowden !” exclaimed 

lYl Miss Bayle; then turning toward him she said : 

It’s real kind coming to meet us. Have you been 
here a great while ? But how did you know we were 
to arrive to-day ? ” 

“ I thought you might arrive one of these days, so 
I came to the station by chance and I am glad I have 
been so fortunate.” 

The truth was that, since Mr. Wentworth’s de- 
parture three days before. Lord Plowden did not know 
what to do with himself : he had promised Miss Bayle 
that he would never play at the gaming tables unless 
she were present ; so he had spent the greater part of 
each day at the railway station, watching the arrival 
of every train as punctually and eagerly as the hotel 
porters. 

Miss Bayle told her mother that she preferred walk- 
ing to the Hdtel de Londres with Lord Plowden, as 
that would give more room for the others in the omni- 
bus. It is scarcely necessary to state that she did this 
in order to please herself and have a short talk with 
him. Her first question was : Where’s Mr. Went- 

worth ? Mother hoped to meet him here ? ” Not 
wishing to tell his friend’s story then, he confined him- 
self to saying : “ He left three days ago for Paris, 
where he had some business to look after.” 

“ Then you’ve been quite alone ; how long did you 
say you’d been here ? ” 


JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE. Z2>1 

It is a fortnight or, as you would say two weeks, 
since I arrived. I have been alone for three days 
only.” 

“ I suppose then, you have been losing your money 
in those horrid rooms ? ” 

“ No, I have lost nothing, because I have not en- 
tered them. You may have forgotten perhaps, that I 
promised not to enter them unless you were here.” 

She had forgotten, but she was flattered to learn 
that he had not, and she was about to say something 
complimentary when she looked up and saw that they 
had reached the entrance to the Hotel de Londres and 
that Dave Jackson was standing there. He had trav- 
eled with the Bayles from Ouchy. She said to Lord 
Plowden : 

“ This is Mr. Jackson, a friend of father’s. Allow 
me to present you to him.” 

Mr. Jackson held out his hand, saying : 

“ Lord Plowden Eton, I am very pleased to make 
your acquaintance, sir. I hope we shall meet again.” 

As he turned away Lord Plowden remarked to Miss 
Bayle : “ We introduce people to each other ; people 
are presented at court ; I should not mention this if 
you had not so often asked me to point out the differ- 
ences between your forms of speech and ours.” 

Though only obeying Miss Bayle’s urgent request, 
she was not pleased and said with some asperity of 
tone : 

“ Now, I declare, you are unbearable. Twice in the 
course of a few minutes have you remarked upon my 
speech. Yet you have never noticed that I have not 
once said ^ guess.’ It is just like you men. You look 
out for faults and are happy when you find them. Un- 
less you promise to behave better I shall never speak 
to you again.” 

“ Pray give me another trial, and I will praise every 
thing you say.” 

“ Now that is still worse. You know I have often 
told you how much I detest the meaningless compli- 


33^ J//6’5 BAYLE'S ROMANCE. 

merits with which your countrymen have sickened me. 
Are you staying in this hotel ? ” 

“ No, I am again at the Hdtel de Paris'* 

Will you come and dine with us, and I shall give 
you a lesson in good behavior after dinner. Mother 
and father will be glad to see you. We dine by our- 
selves in the restaurant, as father does not like table 
d'hbte dinners.” 

After dinner the party went to the evening concert. 
As Mr. Bayle walked slowly on account of the stiff- 
ness in his right leg, he and Mr. Jackson followed the 
others at a short distance. They passed close in front 
of the. glass-house attached to the restaurant of the 
Hotel de Paris. Only one gentleman was dining there. 
The unemployed waiters were gossiping near an open 
window. As Mr. Bayle and Mr. Jackson passed, one 
waiter exclaimed : 

‘‘ Look ! That gentleman is very like Mylor Salis- 
bury ; I was at the Hdtel Victoria when he staid 
there.” 

He meant Mr. Jackson, who was tall, had rounded- 
shoulders, and a bearded-face not unlike that of the 
English statesman. Another waiter remarked : 

“ I never saw Mylor Salisbury ; but I have seen M. 
de Freycinet more than once and certainly the other 
gentleman’s head and hair resemble his, so both En- 
gland and France are represented.” 

These words were imperfectly overheard by the 
gentleman dining at a table a little way off ; he was a 
French journalist, named Paul Taupin, who was taking 
a holiday at Monte Carlo. The words which reached 
his ears were “ Salisbury — Hotel Victoria — Freycinet 
— England and France.” Having the vivid imagina- 
tion of his race and craft he at once jumped to the 
conclusion that Lord Salisbury and M. de Freycinet 
were at the Victoria Hotel and taking counsel to- 
gether concerning the affairs of their respective 
countries. Calling a waiter he asked him to look 
out and let him know who was passing the window. 


JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE. 


339 


This waiter had heard the talk of the others and, 
after making a pretense of looking out of the win- 
dow, he returned and gave his own version to the 
effect that : “ Mylor Salisbury and M. de Freycinet 
are going to the Casino together.” 

M. Taupin now felt sure that his supposition was 
fully confirmed ; he hastily paid his bill, hurried to 
the telegraph office and sent the following message to 
thQ conductor of Ze Canard : “Salisbury and Frey- 
cinet have arrived here ; they are engaged in frequent 
conferences ; but have not settled any thing yet. Full 
particulars to-morrow.” He then went to the Casino 
and looked everywhere for the two statesmen ; as he 
failed to get a glimpse of them he supposed that they 
had returned to the Victoria Hotel ; he postponed 
going there till he had tried his chance at Roulette and 
he remained playing until the rooms were closed. 

Both Mr. Bayle and Mr. Jackson began to play im- 
mediately after entering the rooms ; but Mr. Bayle 
soon ceased ; he felt tired and wished to return to the 
hotel ; besides, he had won twenty thousand francs. 
Mr. Jackson began by winning ; but the tide turned 
and all his winnings as well as all the money in his 
pockets were swept away. “ Lend me five hundred 
dollars, Ez,” he said. “ No, Dave,” was the reply. 
“ I won’t if you mean to play again, and if you don’t 
you can’t want them now. Let’s go ; I’m tired.” Mr. 
Jackson had no option, so he returned to the hotel in 
a worse temper and with less money than when he left 
it. He resolved, however, to return the following day 
and retrieve his losses. He had not the opportunity. 
At an early hour Mr. Bayle sent for him and said : 

“ Dave, the cable dispatch has arrived. It is to the 
effect that I had better remain away till the first part 
of the business is engineered. The chief thing now is 
to have the scheme indorsed at the fall elections and 
then it will be in order to press it upon Congress in 
the spring. Now, I want you to go at once to Amer- 
ica and look after my interests. When the matter is 


340 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


put through you shall have fifty thousand dollars and 
your expenses in any case. How is that for high ? " 

“ I’ll go, Ez, right away.” 

Mr. Jackson started by the first train for Paris and 
now passes out of this story. 

Le Canard did not contain M. Paul Taupin’s tele- 
gram ; but in its place was an article headed “ France 
and England,” signed Georges Ganache, which be- 
gan : “ Whenever any great political event occurs Le 

Canard is a spectator to whom all the facts are famil- 
iar. As usual we have distanced all our rivals and 
can inform the world of a momentous resolution taken 
by the English premier. Finding the isolation of 
England unbearable, he has recourse to M. de Frey- 
cinet for help, and a treaty of alliance in view of cer- 
tain eventualities is ready for signature. It is under- 
stood, though we state this subject to all reserves, that 
France will cease to give any countenance to Russia 
and that in return the English government will induce 
that of Germany to restore Alsace and Lorraine to 
France.” The article went on to say how the two 
statesmen had met at Monte Carlo ; it was filled with 
details of equal accuracy and interest and it made a 
sensation. Reuter’s agent telegraphed the substance 
of it to his clients. 

The follovi^ing morning the London papers, with the 
exception of the TiineSy contained Reuter’s telegram. 
Before going to press the editor of the Times had 
communicated by telegraph with his correspondent at 
Monte Carlo and learned that the whole story was a 
pure fiction. The London evening papers were filled 
with comments on Reuter’s telegram. The St. James's 
Censor wrote that : “We have always had a clear ap- 
preciation of the wickedness of Russia and Mr. Glad- 
stone and (as our readers well know) we have not been 
backward in giving publicity to - our views. Though 
the Conservative administration (with which we have en- 
tire sympathy) may have sometimes failed to meet with 
our perfect approval, yet such a step as that which Lord 


JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE. 


341 


Salisbury is reported to have taken is worthy of him 
and his country. To sever France from Russia is a 
masterstroke of policy.” It is unnecessary to quote 
from the article at greater length, as those who are 
curious about the rest of it can satisfy themselves by 
referring to the file of the paper. 

'Fhe Fall Mall Censor wrote : “ While disapproving 
on principle of any important step being taken with- 
out our permission, as in that case government by 
journalism would not have fair play, we can not con- 
demn the exceptional course pursued by Lord Salis- 
bury. It is no use beating about the bush when an 
object has to be attained. To arrange an interview 
with M. de Freycinet in the independent and obscure 
principality of Monaco is a stroke of genius. Unless 
the Radicals change their tactics in general as well as 
their policy with regard to the empire, the Tories will 
outstrip them. It is true we have none of the rabid 
hatred of Russia which has been the mark of unintel- 
ligent and retrograde Toryism, yet we have so strong 
a desire to cultivate close relations with France that 
we heartily sanction Lord Salisbury’s latest move. As 
usual the Times is silent when great European ques- 
tions are under discussion, while our other morning 
contemporaries think it sufficient to throw husks before 
the public in the form of articles on the history and 
condition of Monaco.” Each of these journals con- 
tained a paragraph next day to the effect that Lord 
Salisbury had not quitted Hatfield, and that M. de 
Freycinet had remained at Mont-sous-Vaudrey with 
President Grevy and that all statements to the contrary 
were utter fabrications. 

A telegram published in Le Canard., signed by M. 
Paul Taupin, informed the French reading public that 
Lord Salisbury had suddenly started from Monte 
Carlo for Paris and that M. de Freycinet had returned 
to Mont-sous-Vaudrey, and that this hasty departure 
of the two statesmen was doubtless due to their con- 
ference at Monte Carlo having been discovered by the 


342 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


ubiquitous and omniscient Canard. M. Taupin was so 
proud of his feat that he soon followed the telegram 
to Paris, his desire being to enjoy the congratulations 
which he had earned by his enterprise. He hoped to 
profit by the obligation under which he had laid the 
organ of what he called the “ high life ” — which he 
pronounced “ higleaf ” — of Paris. 

When M. Taupin reached Marseilles he bought the 
latest Paris papers which had just arrived. In Le 
Gaulois he found the following paragraph in a column 
of gossip signed Pierre Aigle : “Our colleague M. Paul 
Taupin deserves our thanks for having startled our 
insular rivals. The London journals have regarded 
as quite serious his telegram professing to have been 
sent from Monte Carlo. The trick is a clever one and 
worthy of a clever man, though it is one which can not 
be repeated very often as any one can put Monte 
Carlo on a telegram written in a cafe on the boule- 
vards.” 

M. Taupin’s blood boiled when he read this ; not 
only was his veracity called in question — this had hap- 
pened before and he had survived it — but a doubt was 
insinuated whether he had actually visited Monte 
Carlo. He nursed his wrath till he reached Paris, 
when he gave vent to it by writing to M. Aigle the 
following note : “ Sir, I have read the paragraph in 
which you refer to me. You lie. I have the honor to 
add that my seconds are M. Henri Machin and M. 
Sigismond Loup, who will wait upon you without 
delay.” M. Aigle was delighted to receive the sec- 
onds of M. Tappin and to refer them to his own, M. 
Leopold Souris and M. Gaston Lapin, in order that 
the necessary arrangements might be made. The 
prospect of the notoriety resulting from a duel was a 
pleasant one to M. Aigle, and M. Taupin reciproca- 
ted the feeling. In order to avoid the fatal accidents 
that may follow the use of pistols, the weapons se- 
lected and agreed upon were small swords. 

The duel was fought next morning and the seconds 


JO Urn A Lis TIC EN7 'ERP RISE. 


343 


drew up and signed a report of the proceedings which 
was inserted in most of the newspapers and of which 
the substance was telegraphed all over the world. The 
reader of the report learned that the combatants dis- 
played great coolness and bravery. As a matter of 
fact they danced about with such energy as soon to 
get out of breath, and seven times they had to rest. 
After three-quarters of an hour had been passed by 
them in this heroic fashion, M. Taupin received a 
slight scratch on the back of his right hand. The 
scratch was as severe as that which a large sized pin 
or the claw of a kitten might easily cause. 

The doctor at once interposed and pronounced M. 
Taupin unable to continue the combat on equal terms. 
The seconds wefe of the same opinion and the prin- 
cipals were only too. happy to shake hands and com- 
pliment each other on possessing the highest moral 
character, on showing dauntless courage and being an 
ornament to journalism. The doctor put a piece of 
sticking plaster on the scratch ; placed the hand in a 
sITng and ordered M. Taupin to go home and take to 
his bed in case fever might ensue. In the account of 
the duel the wound was not styled a scratch, but a 
“ sufficiently severe injury to necessitate great precau- 
tions lest the consequences might prove serious.” 
M. Taupin remained three days in bed ; but he could 
not endure the confinement longer or dispense with 
the congratulations which he counted upon receiving 
as soon as he walked along the boulevards again. So 
his recovery was marvelously rapid, and, though he 
kept his hand in a sling for a fortnight whenever he 
walked out, he found that he could use it as well as 
ever when within doors. 

Mr. Bayle was ignorant of all the writing and blood- 
shed to which he and his friend had unconsciously 
contributed. It is true that he saw in the papers a 
few lines about another duel between Parisian journal- 
ists ; but this did not interest him. Afterward he 
heard more on the subject from Mr. King Edwards 


344 


MISS BA YLES ROMANCE. 


when the latter was introduced to him in London, and 
who added that he had some personal experience of 
French dueling. When pressed for further particu- 
lars he turned the conversation. Mentioning this to 
Lord Plowden at dinner the latter said, “ I was pres- 
ent when King Edwards’s adventure occurred and 1 
was never so much amused in my life and I should 
add, perhaps, more struck with the coolness of your 
countryman at a time when other persons would prob- 
ably have lost their heads.” 

“ Tell us all about it, Lord Plowden,” asked Mrs. 
Bayle. 

“ The story is a short one and I will do my best. 
Mr. King Edwards was with me at a Caf^ Chantant 
one evening when two young Frenchmen came and 
sat down at the next table. They had dined and were 
in an uproarious mood. They not only spoke loudly, 
but they cheered one of the singers till the public 
called out ‘ silence ! ’ Mr. King Edwards did as the 
others and I joined. The elder of the two turned upon 
Mr. King Edwards, called him a rasta and said, ‘ HoW 
your tongue.’ Mr. King Edwards replied, ‘ I will 
with pleasure if you set the example.’ The other re- 
torted ‘ Canaille* Mr. King Edwards replied, ‘ I am 
an American,’ and he was then told, ‘ I thought so, go 
back to your own country ; you contaminate ours.’ 
The Frenchman was getting more excited and clenched 
his hands. Mr. King Edwards quietly said, ‘ Do you 
mean to insult me ? ’ ‘I do,’ was the reply ; ‘ here’s 
my card,’ and wrote his address on it. Mr. King 
Edwards handed his card to him in return and then 
he asked me to call upon the Frenchman, who was 
named Joliet de Cadran. 

I called the next morning with a friend of Mr. King 
Edwards’s ; we were referred to two gentlemen who 
were to act as M. de Cadran’s seconds. My fellow 
second did the talking ; he was Mr. Washington Bon- 
ner, the famous American artist who has lived many 
years in Paris and speaks French like a native. As 


JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE, 


345 


Mr. King Edwards was the person insulted, he had the 
choice of weapons and he chose six-shooters to be 
used across a table, each combatant holding the cor- 
ner of a pocket handkerchief with the one hand and 
the weapon with the other. When the seconds of M. 
de Cadran heard the terms, they said ‘ Why ! that 
would be brutal ; one of the persons if not both would 
be shot dead.’ We replied that Mr. King Edwards 
was resolved to kill the man who had insulted him and 
did not care what happened to himself. 

“ M. de Cadran flatly refused to go and be ‘ mur- 
dered,’ as he said. Though not wanting in courage, 
he could not fight a duel in what he considered to be 
a savage fashion. He was told that, if he declined to 
fight, Mr. King Edwards would write to the committee 
of the club in the Rue Royale to which he belonged 
and would also get the fact announced in the papers. 
His seconds begged hard for swords to be chosen ; 
we answered, ‘ Apologize, fight, or take the conse- 
quences.’ The apology was delivered in writing that 
afternoon and was as thorough as could be desired. 
M. de Cadran seemed to have always been a warm 
admirer of the Americans ; he had mistaken Mr. King 
Edwards for a Mexican and he wished to be his friend. 
We accepted his apology and he left Paris the same 
evening.” 

Mr. Bayle’s comment was, “ If the French would 
make a law that, when a duel takes place, both the 
principals are to be imprisoned for life unless one is 
mortally wounded, I guess there would be fewer cases 
of fighting. We don’t fight many duels in America ; 
but, when we do, somebody gets killed.” 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 


LORD PLOWDEN ETON PROPOSES. 

M r. BAYLE Spent little time in the gaming rooms 
at Monte Carlo ; he was fond of making money, 
and he was fond of play, but he preferred games in 
which skill could be exercised to those in which there 
was no room for it and as regards which the only 
certainty was loss of money in the long run. More- 
over, he disliked to see ladies playing. He said to 
Lord Plowden : “ I have read much in your English 
newspapers about the wickedness of Monte Carlo ; 
but I see nothing to object to except admitting ladies 
into the gaming rooms. At Morrissey’s in Saratoga 
I have seen much higher play ; but there gentlemen 
only took part in it. At Bell’s in Denver I have seen 
greater crowds around the faro tables, which are open 
day and night all the week except Sunday. The fact 
is Monte Carlo gaming is a mean thing compared with 
what we can show in America, and if ladies were 
excluded from the rooms there would be nothing to 
make a fuss about.” 

Lord Plowden’s acquaintance with gaming houses 
was very slight ; he had been told, however, 
that, at most of the French watering-places, particu- 
larly at Vichy and Aix-les-Bains during the season, 
there was far higher play than at Monte Carlo ; he said 
this in reply to Mr. Bayle and he added, “ I agree 
with you about ladies being excluded ; but that is con- 
trary to what every one says about the equality of the 
sexes.” 

“ Well, sir, if you come to America where women 


LORD PLOVVDEN ETON PROPOSES. 347 

have their own way in most things you will find that 
we don’t allow them to enter our drinking or gaming 
saloons and I guess we’re right.” 

Lord Plowden concurred with Mr. Bayle in this 
thing as in others. Indeed, he gained the esteem of 
the whole family by his readiness in agreeing with 
each of them. He was not at all reluctant to state 
his own opinions and to stick to them ; but, as many 
of the subjects discussed by the Bayles had some rela- 
tion to America and as he was really ignorant about 
them, he wisely refrained from taking sides and being 
laughed at for perpetrating some unintentional blun- 
der. 

As Mr. Bayle liked to be moving about, he took the 
party to see some new place every day. He had 
hired a courier at Geneva, so he had only to tell the 
courier what he wished and the necessary arrange- 
ments were made. This was a great relief to Lord 
Plowden. He was no longer asked for information 
which he did not possess, while the courier found it 
hard to answer the questions with which Mr. Bayle 
plied him. A trifling circumstance caused Mr. Bayle 
to entertain a very low opinion of the people in the 
South. The party had driven to Nice by the lower and 
newer road. As the carriage was entering Nice, Mr. 
Bayle saw at the side of the street a small building 
with the sign above it of Ecrivain Puhlique : “ Say, 

what’s that ? ” was his question to the courier. 

“ It’s a public writer, sir.” 

“ Does that mean a journalist ; a man who writes for 
the papers ? ” 

“ No, sir, he writes letters for other people, for 
young ladies in love.” 

Here Lord Plowden interposed, being able to ex- 
plain that, as many persons were unable to read and 
write, a man made it his business to write letters for 
them and that he had seen one of these “ Public 
Writers ” in Paris not far from his aunt’s house in the 
Faubourg St. Germain. 


348 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

Well, Lord Plowden,” remarked Mr. Bayle, “ that 
is the strangest thing I have yet heard about Europe ! 
Why don't they employ more schoolmasters and then 
every body would be able to read and write ? " 

“ I have been told,” said Lord Plowden, “ that there 
are fewer ‘ Public Writers ’ now than there used to be, 
so that shows that the people are getting better edu- 
cated.” 

“ I should hope so,” remarked Mr. Bayle ; “ if I 
had not seen this sign with my own eyes, I never should 
have believed that such a business could have found 
customers.” 

The next day the party drove to La Turbie, which 
overlooks Monaco. Nearly two hours are required to 
go thither in a carriage, while the descent may be 
made on foot in little more than half an hour. Miss 
Bayle expressed her wish to walk down ; her mother 
did not care about walking at any time and her father 
could not walk far on sloping ground without pain. 
Lord Plowden offered to accompany her ; his offer 
being accepted, they set off together. 

Descending the Hill Difficulty may appear an easy 
matter, but it is not so in reality. Now the path 
which zig-zags between La Turbie and Monaco is 
as great a trial to the pedestrian as any which a Pil- 
grim has ever faced. The stones are sharp -pointed 
and slippery. Miss Bayle’s feet were covered with 
kid boots — she called them “ shoes ” — which would 
be comfortable in a ball-room but which were pur- 
gatory to her now. She had not gone far before she 
wished she had never started ; but, as the carriage 
had driven off, it was useless to turn back. Lord 
Plowden found the path very rough ; yet he suffered 
less than Miss Bayle. He offered her his arm saying : 

Allow me to help you over this part ; lower down 
the road looks smoother.” 

She was not sorry to take his arm, and she was 
delighted when the smoother part was reached. But 
the path, which is very badly kept, was at its worst 


LORD PLOWDEM ETON PROPOSES. 


349 


half-way, and then Miss Bayle, whose feet were paining 
her, stopped and said : 

“ I guess my shoes are giving out ; I must sit down 
and rest." 

They sat down on the trunk of a tree at the way- 
side and there remained for nearly half an hour. Till 
then they had spoken little, being too much occupied 
in picking their steps. Now, they had to talk to pass 
the time and Lord Plowden had to answer many ques- 
tions about Mr. Wentworth. Having no reason for 
secrecy about what had happened, he told the whole 
story, as far as it was known to him, and he did so 
with such evident feeling that Miss Bayle said when 
he had ended, “ Poor man ; I am real sorry for him.” 

Lord Plowden had never seen her in such a mood ; 
she was generally in high spirits and ready to ridicule 
most of the people she met and himself in particular. 
He had frequently been on the point of proposing to 
her ; but he had always hesitated lest she should 
laugh at him. He now plucked up courage and said : 

“ Miss Bayle, perhaps you will bestow a little of your 
pity upon me : I am nearly as unhappy as Mr. Went- 
worth.” 

“ How so ? You don't look very bad.” 

“ Then pray don’t judge by my looks. I shall cer- 
tainly feel much happier if you will consent to be my 
wife.” 

“ You surprise me. Lord Plowden ; I always thought 
you couldn’t endure American girls. Haven’t you 
often hinted that you could not understand what I 
said ? ” 

Her surprise was not assumed ; she liked Lord Plow- 
den better than any Englishman she had met ; but she 
fancied that he did not reciprocate the feeling. The 
truth is they had both begun in the way Mrs. Malaprop 
thought the surest prelude to matrimony, that is “ with 
a little aversion.” Lord Plowden repented him for 
having ever criticised Miss Bayle’s expressions ; he 
had done so, however, without any unkind motive and 


350 


M/SS BA YLE’S ROMANCE. 


simply because they were strange and sometimes almost 
unintelligible to him. He feared by her manner that 
she was about to return a point-blank refusal, and he 
said : 

“ Pardon me if I ever offended you in any way. It 
was unintentional. Pardon me also if I have taken 
you by surprise now. I shall wait for an answer as 
long as you please : but please do not say ‘ no ’ at 
present." 

“ Well, sir, I shall humor you and say ‘ no ’ when we 
are more comfortable ; I wish we were back at the 
hotel ; let’s go on." 

“ If you merely mean to defer your rejection of me 
I shall prefer hearing the worst at once.” 

“ Then you insist upon a definite answer ? " 

“ I do." 

“ I may tell you then, I have no objection to marry 
you — don’t move please till I’m through — once you get 
into the British Parliament. I won’t have a husband 
loafing around. I have seen enough of English society 
to understand that such men are of not much account 
in England unless they are in public life. Now, sir, you 
have my answer,” and she rose from her seat. 

“ One moment. Miss Bayle, please. I am very glad 
that you have not said ‘ no.’ What you ask is far 
more difficult than you suppose. It is not so easy as 
it used to be for peers’ .sons to get into Parliament ; 
besides, I don’t think I should make a good member ; 
but as you desire it I shall make the attempt. If I 
fail you must have pity upon me.” 

“ Do not count upon pity ; we never pity people out 
West ; and we despise those who fail. However, you 
may pity me as much as you please for having had 
such a walk. But let’s talk of something else.” She 
took his arm saying, “ Pick out the soft places. I 
declare the worst corduroy must be velvet compared 
with this.” 

The pair reached the hotel some time after the car- 
riage, instead of long before it, as had been expected. 


LORD FLOWDEN ETON PROPOSES. 35 1 

Mrs. Bayle was very uneasy ; but when her daughter 
told her that she had nearly parted with the soles of 
her “ shoes " and that her feet were so blistered and 
painful she could not come down to the restaurant, 
she said they had better dine together in their own 
room and leave Lord Plowden and Mr. B^yle to keep 
each other company. 

After dinner the ladies were not disposed to go to 
the concert, and neither of the gentlemen cared to go 
to it at any time. The night was fine ; the moon shone 
brightly and Mr. Bayle said he would smoke a cigar 
in the garden where he had a favorite seat. Lord 
Plowden was glad to accompany him and he thought 
the opportunity an excellent one for stating his inten- 
tions and desires. Not being so afraid of Mr. Bayle 
as of his daughter and having nothing to be ashamed 
of, he went to the point at once : “ Mr. Bayle, I have 
asked your daughter to marry me and I hope that both 
her mother and you will accept me for a son-in-law." 

“ That depends upon Alma ; we do not wish to in- 
terfere with her choice provided it be good, and I think 
I may speak for my wife as for myself in saying that 
we shall be delighted if you become her husband." 

“ Thanks, Mr. Bayle, for your kind expressions. I 
must tell you, however, that your daughter has made 
her acceptance dependent upon a condition which 
may never be realized." 

“ Oh ! I suppose she thinks you are not rich enough. 
I can fix that." 

“ I am not what you call rich, but I shall be quite 
able to keep a wife : my father has made me inde- 
pendent of money considerations." 

“ Is that so ? I thought all the younger sons of 
English lords were quite poor." 

“3o they are in most cases. But I told my father 
of my intention and he promised to let me have an 
allowance of five thousand a year should I marry your 
daughter. He made another condition, which was 
that I should occupy my time, and he offered to get me - 


352 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


the post of private secretary to a cabinet minister, who 
is a great friend of his and wants another secretary.” 

“ Your father is quite right. I may tell you also 
that he has evidently made up his mind to accept my 
offer for his Chicago property which would leave him 
five thousand pounds to dispose of annually. I am 
glad of this for both our sakes, as I want to own some 
good real estate in Chicago, and I should like my 
daughter to marry a man who has something more 
than a title which I do not take any stock in.” 

‘‘ I can not sufficiently thank you, and if your daugh- 
ter were as well-disposed as you are I should be a 
happy man.” 

“ But what’s the trouble if you have enough money ? 
Does she want to wait some years ? ” 

“ Her condition is that I should enter Parliament 
first and this is a far more difficult thing than she 
supposes. She seems to think I can become a second 
Lord Randolph Churchill if I choose. In the first 
place, he has plenty of brains, and in the second, when 
he entered public life the younger sons of peers had 
better chances than they have now.” 

“ If Alma has made that condition, why, then, you 
must face the music. Run for Parliament at once. I 
see that the elections will soon begin in your country.. 
What are your politics ? ” 

“I am a Conservative, as my family have been for 
many years ; but I have never voted and I don’t know 
much more about politics than what I have learned 
lately from Lord Beaconsfield’s novels.” 

“ In our country you would have no difficulty as to 
choice. We are all either Democrats or Republicans 
except those who don’t want to work, and they belong 
to the Labor Party, and those who don’t want other 
people to drink whisky and they belong to the Pro- 
hibition Party, but no man has any chance of election 
unless he gets the Democratic or Republican nomi- 
nation.” 

Then I’ll start for England by the express to-mor- 


LORD PLOWDEN ETON PROPOSES. 353 

row morning and I shall let you know how I get 
on.” 

“ Do, and if I can help you, wire me. We shall 
probably be in London in a few days' time. I am tired 
of this place.” 

Lord Plowden went off in the morning without seeing 
Mrs. Bayle or her daughter. Mr. Bayle accompanied 
him to the railway station. He said, what was the 
actual fact, that his daughter suffered so much from 
her feet she was unable to quit her room and that his 
wife would not leave her, but had commissioned him 
to express her best wishes for his success and told him 
to give Lord Plowden “ a good send-off.” Lord 
Plowden sent back his best thanks and expressed the 
hope that they might all meet in London. 

Miss Bayle told her mother what had occurred. 

“ Well, Almy,” was the reply, “ I should have been 
real glad if you had said ‘yes.’ Lord Plowden is a 
nice gentleman and a very handsome one, too. I do 
so wish you had accepted him right away. Perhaps he 
will change his mind.” 

“ Never fear, mother ; but if he does, then I am well 
rid of him. I don’t think there is much danger that 
he will go back on me.” 

A few days later the party left, for Paris. Before 
departing. Miss Bayle wrote a short letter to Sadie 
James. 

“ Dearest Sadie : 

“ I was wrong in thinking that Lord Plowden did 
not care for me, but I don’t think we shall be married, 
though he has offered himself to me and I have not 
said that I won’t have him. The best American ladies 
who have married in England have husbands who are 
members of Parliament, which is a very different thing 
from being a member of Congress. Unless an English 
politician gets into Parliament he has no chance of 
being in the government or of being of much account, 
so I have told Lord Plowden that I shall not marry 


354 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


him till he is a member of the British Parliament. 
He seemed quite put out, but he has gone off to try 
and I thought the better of him for doing so without 
hanging around and thinking I should change my 
mind ; I feel more like marrying him than ever and I 
hope he will succeed. Father and mother both seem 
to think I have been too hard upon him. I thought 
they would not care about my marrying just yet ; but 
they seem to like him even better than I do. I shall 
send you further developments. The elections to the 
British Parliament begin in a few weeks’ time. If I 
am married I shall not visit America this year. But if 
you visit Europe this fall or next year, as you say you 
may do, you must come and stay with me.” 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

LORD PLOWDEN CONTESTS SLOUGH. 

L ord PLOWDEN went to his father and informed 
him how he was situated. The duke told him 
he thought that Miss Bayle had displayed much com- 
mon-sense, and that he liked her all the better for hav- 
ing declined to marry him till he became a member of 
Parliament. 

The duke went on to say, “ Now, Plowden, you will 
doubtless have a difficulty in finding a seat ; in former 
days I could have given you a family borough ; but 
now you must shift for yourself. Though our friends 
are in office they can not do much to help you. How- 
ever, I know the secretary to the treasury very well 
and I shall go and talk the matter over with him.” 

Later in the day the duke saw his son again and in- 
formed him that all the election arrangements had 
been made, but that the secretary to the treasury had 
recommended that his son should stand for the new 
borough of Slough. No Tory candidate had yet ven- 
tured to contest it, as the return of a Radical was con- 
sidered to be almost a certainty. But the duke had a 
property not far off ; the family was well known in the 
neighborhood and it would-be considered quite natural 
that a member of it should contest the new borough. 

Though the. Duke of Windsor had taken no active 
part in politics, he had watched their course with at- 
tention and he was able to give his son sensible advice. 

“ Now, Plowden,” he said, “ if I were a candidate I 
should try and strike out a line of my own. No one 
attracts attention by repeating the old party phrases. 


MISS BA YLE^S ROMANCE. 


356 

Men on both sides are rather tired of merely following 
their leaders. The Tories, with the exception of such 
men as my worthy friend Mr. Newdegate, are not 
afraid of new things, while even the Radicals are fright- 
ened when one of their number speaks about rich men 
paying ransom. Tell the electors that you are a sup- 
porter of the Tory government ; that will satisfy the 
party managers ; tell them also that you are in favor 
of well-considered and progressive reforms, and that 
will please the electors who do not identify Toryism 
with reactipn. Read Bolingbroke’s political “ Let- 
ters” and his “ Patriot King,” and most of Beacons- 
field’s novels and you will find plenty of ideas which 
no Radical can disown. Curtis & Bennett, our fam- 
ily solicitors, have not much practice in electioneering, 
but they will prepare your address and give you what 
other help you may require.” 

Lord Plowden took his father’s advice. He called 
upon Messrs. Curtis & Bennett, who undertook to 
sketch an address for him and they at once engaged an 
election agent who proceeded to Slough to begin oper- 
ations. Lord Plowden was familiar with Lord Bea- 
consfield's novels, having read little else for several 
weeks. He had learned his politics from them just as 
the great Duke of Marlborough learned history from 
Shakespeare’s plays, the consequence being that 
Lord Plowden had as strange and confused notions 
about English politics as the duke had of English 
history. 

Messrs. Curtis & Bennett forwarded him the draft 
of his address, which was couched in terms resembling 
the addresses of hundreds of Tory candidates, Mr. 
Gladstone being depicted as a very wicked man. Lord 
Salisbury as a very wise one, and the salvation of the' 
country being represented as depending upon keeping 
the former out of office and the latter in. 

Putting the draft aside. Lord Plowden concocted an 
address according to his lights. It was nearly six 
times as long as that of Messrs. Curtis & Bennett and 


LORD PLOWDEN CONTESTS SLOUGH. 357 

it was different from any that had been issued by other 
candidates. He took it to his father the following 
morning. The duke read over both drafts and agreed 
with his son in thinking that of the solicitors to be 
commonplace and conventional. He said to his son 
after reading his one : 

“ Plowden, this will never do. You have written an 
essay which will please no one but the printer. An 
election address ought to be concise and obscure ; 
people should read without understanding it ; the less 
they understand it the more credit they will give the 
author. You have filled your version with plenty of 
quotations from Bolingbroke and Beaconsfield ; but 
these will sound far better in a speech to the electors. 
I see you have said the usual harsh things about Mr. 
Gladstone ; I don’t object to them so much because 
they are unfair, as because they can be turned against 
you. For instance, what Bolingbroke wrote to Sir 
William Wyndham may be, as you say, applied to Mr. 
Gladstone's last administration, but then it will be 
retorted upon you that it was a description of a Tory 
government.” 

The passage was as follows : ‘‘ The principal spring 
of their actions [Lord Plowden had substituted ‘their’ 
for ‘ our ’ in the quotation], was to have the govern- 
ment in their hands, and their principal views were 
the conservation of their power — great employments 
for themselves [ourselves in the original], great means 
of securing those who helped to raise them [us], and 
of injuring those who stood in opposition to them 
[us].” 

After reading the passage aloud, the duke added, 
“ This may be true as regards Mr. Gladstone and the 
Parnellites, but as I have already said the passage 
will be turned against you. Strike it out then. I see 
you call yourself a Radical Tory ; that has the merit 
of being fresh and unintelligible. I have had more 
practice in writing than you, though you have done 
pretty well as a beginner, and produced a good speci- 


358 


A//SS £A YLE'S ROMANCE. 


men of the bombastic nonsense which passes current 
with the uneducated readers of the daily papers as 
very fine rhetoric. At the risk of unduly interfering 
in an election, I will sketch out what I think may suit 
your purpose.” 

The duke then condensed into the following few 
sentences the many paragraphs containing more words 
than meaning which his son had penned : 

“ To the Electors of the Borough of Slough — Gentle- 
men, I beg leave to offer myself as a Radical Tory to 
represent your borough in Parliament and I hope that 
my views may prove to be in accord with yours. 

“ Belonging to a family of which the political opin- 
ions are well known, I shall give a cordial but inde- 
pendent support to a progressive and loyal Conserva- 
tive administration. 

“ I hold the rights of property and labor to be sacred, 
believing, with the late Earl of Beaconsfield, that 
‘ Labor is the twin brother of property.’ 

“ I am in favor of the fullest measure of popular 
representation, believing also, as that great statesman 
wrote, that ‘ the principle of universal suffrage was 
conceded when the first Reform Bill was introduced 
by a Whig ministry.’ 

“ I shall always uphold the unity of the nation and 
further the consolidation of the empire. 

“ A firm and energetic but popular direction of 
public affairs is the great want of the day, it being 
still as true as when the Earl of Beaconsfield wrote, 
that the supremacy of an enlightened sovereign is far 
more desirable than ‘ haphazard government by Down- 
ing Street.’ If you elect me your representative, I 
shall ever be found maintaining the inherent rights of 
the people and the constitutional authority of the 
crown.” 

Lord Plowden’s address was one of the few issued 
by unknown candidates which received comment and 
ridicule in the London press. He had succeeded in 
making himself talked about at the outset, and that 


LORD PLOW DEN CONTEST'S SLOUGH, 359 

was more than his opponent had done. Hence, the 
contest at Slough became a matter of general inter- 
est. 

The Radical candidate was Mr. Caleb Bartle, who 
regarded Lord Plowden’s appearance as a piece of 
impertinence. He had counted upon being returned 
for Slough and, as has already been stated, the return 
of a Radical being deemed certain, no one else had 
cared to lead a forlorn hope against Mr. Bartle. 

Mr. Caleb Bartle was verging on his seventieth year ; 
he was in feeble health and his medical adviser had 
discountenanced his entering public life. He had 
more ambition than stamina and he had a wife and two 
daughters who fostered his ambition in order that they 
might enter society. He was a native of Slough. He 
left it when a young man and spent the greater part 
of his life in Derby. H-e had invented a steam boiler 
which made him rich and ambitious. Bartle’s fluted 
boilers were classed among the triumphs of English 
inventive and manufacturing skill. 

After sixty, Mr. Bartle retired from business with 
an immense fortune, bought an estate in the neighbor- 
hood of Slough and essayed to recommence life as a 
country gentleman. But an English country gentle- 
man is never a self-made man ; he is borq to the posi- 
tion and can not be manufactured to order. Mr. Bartle 
soon learned this. His wife and daughters felt more 
keenly than he did that they were not treated as 
county people ; they received visitors and they paid 
visits but they were always regarded by county society 
as persons apart. In India, pariahs are the poorest of 
the poor : in English counties they are sometimes the 
richest of the rich. 

More than once Mr. Bartle had tried to get into Par- 
liament, but he had always failed. He spent money 
without stint. Judging from his promises, it might 
have been supposed that he had only to be accepted 
by the electors of the constituency he wooed, for the 
millennium to begin at his command. Foreseeing the 


3^0 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

time when Slough would become a parliamentary bor- 
ough, he prepared the way for representing it. 

Having gained much experience at a high price he 
resolved to organize victory in Slough. He took 
time by the forelock. He carefully and skillfully 
nursed the borough in embryo. He remembered as a 
boy how hard it was to find a convenient place wherein 
to play cricket, and he made himself popular with 
young and old by presenting the cricket club with a 
field which was to remain as a cricket ground for all 
generations. He received an illuminated address in 
return. He distributed coal to the poor through the 
medium of a local committee and he said that, though 
a Radical in politics, he would not allow any distinc- 
tion to be made on account of the politics of the re- 
cipients, so that both Liberals and Conservatives 
toasted their toes before fires provided by him and 
agreed in calling him a very kind gentleman. 

In religion, Mr. Bartle was a Wesleyan Methodist. 
He was most liberal in subscribing to the funds of his 
own religious body ; but he was nearly as liberal in 
contributing to those of the Church of England. 
The clergy regretted that he was not a Churchman ; 
but they admitted without hesitation that he set many 
Churchmen an excellent example. Moreover, his wife 
and daughters frequently attended service at the 
parish church and the offertory was always found to be 
unusually large on the Sundays that they were present. 
Many agricultural laborers in the neighborhood were 
badly housed ; Mr. Bartle built model cottages which 
he let to them at much lower rents than they had paid 
for hovels. The hard-working sons of toil who occu- 
pied the model cottages became householders and 
acquired votes. He established a Working Man’s 
Club and arranged that no payment was to be made 
by the members for the first five years. The club was 
soon filled with members who unanimously pro- 
nounced Mr. Bartle “a right good sort.” He was re- 
garded as the good genius of Slough. All who were 


LORD PLOW DEN CONTESTS SLOUGH. 361 

aggrieved or afflicted went to him for counsel and 
help and, if qualified to become voters on the creation 
of the borough, they were never sent empty and dis- 
contented away. 

As soon as Parliament decreed that Slough was to 
return a member, the principal lawyer, who happened 
to be Mr. Bartle’s solicitor, called a meeting of the 
future electors and proposed that a representative 
body should be formed on the Birmingham model. 
The elections took place in the usual fashion and the 
executive council of the Slough hundred set to 
work to find a candidate. Several gentlemen offered 
their services ; but, after hearing them, the council 
declined to recommend them to the hundred. A mem- 
ber of the council, who occupied one of Mr. Bartle’s 
model cottages, had the happy thought that he should 
be invited to address them. This seemed to strike 
the others as a novel but very good idea, so it was 
resolved that the secretary should write a letter to that 
effect. 

Mr. Bartle replied that, though highly honored by 
the invitation, he feared that he could not accept it, 
that his health was impaired, that his medical adviser 
— which was really the case — had warned him that any 
undue excitement would endanger his life, and had 
advised him to keep quiet till the spring and then pro- 
ceed to Karlsbad in the hope of obtaining relief from 
a serious internal malady with which he was afflicted, 
yet that, as he had always had the interests of his fel- 
low townsmen at heart, he should consider how best 
he could continue to subserve them. 

As this reply was neither an acceptance nor a refusal, 
the council appointed a committee of three to wait 
upon Mr. Bartle in order to ascertain his wishes and, 
if possible, to persuade him to accede to the wishes of 
the electors. The result was that he consented, with 
well-feigned reluctance, to become a candidate, being 
moved to do so, as he said, by the assurance that, as 
any opposition to him was improbable, his return was 


362 M/SS BA YLE'S BOMANCB. 

indubitable. He first addressed the council, then the 
hundred in general meeting, and he was accepted as 
the Liberal candidate without a dissentient voice. 
“ Bartle forever,” was the cry ; he heartily approved 
of it. 

As the Liberals were understood to be in a large 
majority, Mr. Bartle’s return, as has already been 
stated, was regarded as a foregone conclusion. Even 
had the parties been more evenly balanced his chance 
was excellent, as many avowed Tories had intimated 
that they would not vote against him, even if they 
could not vote for him. Many of them were his ten- 
ants ; others were tradespeople with whom he dealt, 
and several were enthusiastic members of the cricket 
club to which he had been so laudable a benefactor. 
Some influential voters had strong personal prejudices 
against Mr. Bartle. They detested his practices even 
more than his politics. The leading wine merchant, 
who was a Tory by conviction, did not approve of Mr. 
Bartle dealing with the civil service stores ; the lead- 
ing grocer, who. was a Tory also, felt aggrieved for the 
like reason. They considered it a public scandal that 
Mr. Bartle should be unopposed. 

Mr. Bartle’s election address was short and color- 
less. He aimed at pleasing every body by saying 
nothing at which the members of either political party 
could take offense, confining himself to offering to 
represent the borough with which he was intimately 
connected and in which he was well known, and prom- 
ising, if elected, to further the interests alike of his 
fellow electors and of the nation. He had expunged 
from the draft prepared by his solicitor the only pas- 
sage which contained any point of personal applica- 
tion. The canceled passage ran thus : “ If returned 
to Parliament you will always find me as reliable as the 
boilers which are associated with my name and, as they 
seldom explode or disappoint those who use them, so 
I shall never give you cause to regret having placed 
confidence in me.” The fact is that Mr. Bartle was 


LORD PLOW DEN CONTESTS SLOUGH. 363 

either too modest to vaunt the merits of the boilers 
which had made him famous and’rich, or else he was 
ashamed of the instruments whereby he had acquired 
reputation and money. 

Every one in Slough was startled on finding the 
walls placarded with Lord Plowden Eton’s address. 
A Tory committee was speedily constituted, the lead- 
ing wine merchant being chairman. Both he and the 
leading grocer regarded the Duke of Windsor’s family 
as setting an excellent example by not dealing with 
the co-operative stores. Besides, the family were then 
occupying Abbey Park, which was not far off, and 
displayed opportune patriotism by giving large orders , 
for wines and groceries. 

Lord Plowden had never addressed a public meet- 
ing till he appeared before that of his own supporters. 
His speech was a dead failure. To listen to it was a 
penance. He lacked the happy faculty of the heroes 
of Lord Beaconsfield’s novels who, when they made 
speeches for the first time in the country or the House 
of Commons, displayed all the marvelous gifts of the 
greatest orators of ancient and modern times. How- 
ever, the leading wine merchant, who presided, made 
amends for Lord Plowden’s short excruciating remarks 
by a long string of commonplaces about the virtues of 
the Tories and those of the Duke of Windsor’s family 
in particular ; about the wickedness of Radicals, espe- 
cially of those who gained money by making fluted 
boilers, and about the monstrous iniquity of all persons 
who dealt at co-operative stores. 

If Lord Plowden were a bad speaker, he made an 
admirable canvasser. He had the happy knack of 
making friends with strangers. Knowing little of poli- 
tics, he was profuse and indiscriminate in his pledges. 
Having no notion of the limitation of any legislative 
assembly to render human beings more self-reliant 
and contented and of the very small part that any 
member of Parliament can play as a legislator, he 
promised things which were absurd and impracticable, 


3^4 


MISS BA YLES ROMANCE, 


but which gave great satisfaction, and he caused the 
impression to prevail that, if he were in Parliament, 
all wrongs would be righted and the golden age of 
fable restored. His main difficulty consisted in having 
been second in the field. Hundreds of electors assured 
him that if they had not promised to vote for Mr. 
Bartle, they would gladly have voted for him. 

His invariable reply in such a case was, “ Pray, my 
friend, keep your promise. I should prefer your 
doing so to voting for me ; but please remember me 
another day, if I should again be a candidate.” 

“ Never fear, my lord,” was the almost invariable 
reply, “ there is no danger of my forgetting to vote 
for you when another election takes place.” 

The canvass lasted a fortnight. Before it was half 
over, Mr. Bayle, with his wife and daughter, arrived 
in London from the continent. Learning what was in 
progress at Slough and finding little to do in London, 
Mr. Bayle resolved to go with them to Slough and see 
how an English election was conducted. Miss Bayle 
had suggested his doing so ; his wife professed a 
desire to go also, so he resolved to gratify them and 
please himself. The party occupied the best rooms 
in the Red Lion and lived in a style which gladdened 
the heart of the landlord. Mr. Bayle invited several 
people to dinner daily ; and his standing orders to the 
landlord were, “ Put the best things on the table you 
can ; you English people like good living and drink- 
ing ; I shall expect you to take care that your country- 
men have no reason to complain.” The landlord did 
his duty and Mr. Bayle’s guests enjoyed the delicacies 
provided for them. Such feasting had not before 
been known in Slough. 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 


THE PRESS ON THE ELECTION. 

A t first, the inhabitants of Slough paid little atten- 
tion to the party of Americans at the Red Lion ; 
but, after the party had been a few days there, each of 
the Americans, and Miss Bayle in particular, was re- 
garded with marked interest. This may be attributed 
to the following paragraph in the World : 

“ The American banker and millionaire, Mr. Ezra 
P. Bayle, has returned to England with his wife and 
daughter. They have made a continental tour and 
are now on their way home. Whether Miss Bayle will 
accompany her father and mother is still, uncertain, as 
it depends upon the result of the election at Slough 
next week. Lord Plowden Eton is one of many suit- 
ors for the hand of the American heiress and beauty, 
and his chances of success chiefly depend upon his 
election to Parliament. In common with many others, 
I await the polling at Slough with special interest.” 

When the Slough electors found that it rested with 
them to give Lord Plowden a charming wife as well as 
a seat in the House of Commons, they felt both em- 
barrassed and flattered. Hence it was that the party 
at the Red Lion received an extra share of public 
attention. 

Being a practical man and having had some experi- 
ence of electioneering in America, Mr. Bayle pro- 
nounQed the proceedings at Slough very tame. 

“ You don’t enthuse the people,” was his remark to 
Lord Plowden. 


366 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


The latter did not clearly understand what Mr. Bayle 
meant, so he simply replied : 

“ I have had no experience of elections and my 
agent tells me that every thing is going on well,” 

“ But why don’t you get up a torch-light procession ? ” 
inquired Mr. Bayle. 

“ I shall go and ask my agent,” was the answer. 

His agent said that torch-light processions are not 
customary at elections in England ; besides, they might 
come within the list of things forbidden by the Cor- 
rupt Practices Act. 

Mr. Bayle wished to know if he might get up a pro- 
cession on his own account. Messrs. Curtis & Ben- 
nett were appbed to ; the opinion of counsel was taken 
by them, the reply being as ambiguous as is usual in 
such cases, the conclusion being that the point was a 
doubtful one. 

Mr. Bayle said after reading the opinion, “ Now, 
Lord Plowden, if you don’t object I’ll organize the 
procession. In America these processions make a fine 
show and allow money to be distributed among the 
boys. Thousands find it easier to vote straight after 
walking in a torch-light procession.” 

The news that it was intended to have a torch-light 
procession was circulated in the papers. Indeed, the 
election at Slough had attracted general notice and 
some comments of an unfavorable nature appeared in 
the London press. At the outset the return of Mr. 
Bartle was treated as beyond doubt ; but Lord Plow- 
den made so successful a canvass that the Liberal 
journals thought it right to call upon the electors of 
Slough to do their duty. The News circulated the 
following spirited appeal to them : 

“ The country will be surprised if the newly-created 
borough of Slough should fail to return Mr. Bartle 
not only at the head of the poll — for of that there 
can be no doubt — but with such a majority as 
will convert the borough into a Ifiberal strong- 
hold. Mr. Caleb Bartle is a gentleman of ripe 


THE PRESS ON THE ELECTION. 2>(i^ 

experience and philanthropic habits to whom the 
inhabitants of the new borough are under deep obli- 
gations. He is an earnest and a mature Liberal. His 
opponent, Lord Plowden Eton, is the younger son of 
a duke. He calls himself a Radical Tory, and he has 
issued the most nonsensical election address that has 
yet appeared. Lord Plowden seems ambitious of 
playing the part of Lord Randolph Churchill in his 
earlier days without possessing, as far as we can 
judge, any of the ability of that noble lord. It is 
rumored that undue influences are being brought to 
bear upon the electors. The election, it appears, is to 
be a sort of tournament with a fair American heiress 
presiding as the Queen of Beauty and pledged to 
reward Lord Plowden with her hand should he be the 
victor. It is also said that the young lady’s father is 
taking a part in the election which can not be con- 
sidered either proper or customary. Should these state- 
ments be well founded, it is the more needful for the 
independent electors of Slough to manifest their ab- 
horrence of attempts to seduce them from their alle- 
giance to the Liberal party and teach Lord Plowden 
and his friends a wholesome lesson when the result of 
the poll is proclaimed.” 

The day after this leader-note appeared in the 
NewSy it was reproduced and placarded over the 
borough of Slough with the heading, “ the London 
press condemns Lord Plowden Eton and his friends.” 

A letter appeared the next day in the Morning 
Standard, dated Slough and signed “ One Who 
Knows.” It began, as most letters begin which are 
sent to newspapers. “ My attention has been called to 
an article in a Radical journal about the election here,” 
and it went on to expose the philanthropy of Mr. 
Caleb Bartle and to explain how he had insidiously 
labored with a view of becoming member for the 
borough. The writer enlarged at great length upon 
the guilt of Mr. Bartle in dealing at a co-operative 
store and eulogized the Duke of Windsor for encour- 


368 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


aging real merit in the form of local tradespeople. 
Though the Morning Standard would have passed 
over without notice the short article of the News^ in 
pursuance of the rule according to which each of the 
penny morning papers of London not only professes 
exclusively to interpret the wishes of the country, but 
also assumes entire ignorance of the existence of any 
other penny morning paper ; however, as the letter of 
“ One Who Knows ” gave the requisite occasion for 
referring to the subject, without betraying any knowl- 
edge that the News existed, the Morning Standard 
wrote : 

“ A correspondent gives the country, through the 
medium of our columns, some curious information 
respecting the contest at Slough. We are not sur- 
prised to learn that the Radical candidate has done his 
utmost to corrupt the electors, and we shall be still 
more surprised if his nefarious attempt does not mis- 
carry. We regard the election of the constitutional 
candidate as assured ; but, should the electors have 
unhappily succumbed to Mr. Bartle’s blandishments, 
then we trust that the election judges may deal with 
him as he deserves. We are aware that some difficulty 
may arise owing to the acts of obvious corruption, 
committed under the guise of philanthropy, dating 
from a time anterior to the creation of the borough. 
Though Mr. Bartle has displayed great astuteness, 
yet we believe that the ‘ Corrupt Practices Act ’ is so 
comprehensive as to provide for such a case as this. 
Meantime, we congratulate Lord Plowden Eton on 
the gallant fight he is making on behalf of the queen 
and constitution and we hope to be able to congratu- 
late him upon gaining another prize, which, we hear, 
will fall to his lot after the electors of Slough have 
returned him to Parliament — which they will assuredly 
do — as their representative.” 

“ An Indignant Elector ” wrote to the News, saying 
that a torch-light procession was to take place the 
night before the election and calling upon his fellow 


THE PRESS ON THE ELECTION. 369 

electors to stay at home and not countenance this 
extraordinary move on the part of the Tories. This 
“indignant elector” further said that Tory trades- 
men had been entrusted with the preparations and that 
honest Liberals, like himself, had been treated with 
contempt when they offered to undertake the work at 
a lower price. “Surely, sir,” he concluded, “you 
will put a stop to this ; especially as the gentleman 
is an American and ought not to interfere, or at least 
he ought to be impartial in giving his orders. In 
these hard times it is very bad to see so much money 
bemg spent and conscientious Liberals getting none of 

Those who desire further comments on the first 
Slough election are referred to a brilliant article in 
the Saturday Spectator headed “ Bartle’s Boilers,” 
wherein both Mr. Bartle and “ an indignant Liberal ” 
were ridiculed, and the devices of Mr. Bartle fqr cur- 
rying favor with the constituents were detailed and 
denounced. The only mistake was to characterize 
“ nursing ” a constituency as a peculiarly Radical 
device for sapping the virtue of patriotic electors. 

The references to what was said in the London 
press about this election may be ended with a curious 
disclosure made by the Post. While Lord Randolph 
Churchill was one of the originators of the Primrose 
League, that journal has been its mainstay in the 
press. The league ostensibly refrains from direct 
interference during elections, but many of its mem- 
bers are most active then. There are no more 
energetic canvassers than the Primrose dames, nor 
can any men be found to equal them in making sweep- 
ing statements concerning the policy of those whom 
they dislike or in uttering allegations which are the 
offspring of a perturbed imagination. 

The Duchess of Windsor was a Primrose dame, and 
she was ready to help her son to the best of her power. 
But she and other ladies renounced taking any part 
in canvassing the electors of Slough when they heard 


370 


M/SS BA YLE'S BOMANCE. 


with amazement that Mr. Battle’s wife and daughters 
were Primrose dames also. Just as he approved of 
going to church occasionally, so did Mr. Bartle approve 
of his wife and daughters joining the Primrose League. 
Besides, though styling himself a Radical, Mr. Bartle 
had studiously refrained from playing a prominent 
part in any Radical club or organization. He delighted 
in proclaiming that, though he was a member of the 
Liberation Society, he was in favor of reforming, but 
opposed to disendowing the Church. In fact, he was 
a greater Tory at heart than Lord Plowden. The only 
notable difference was that Mr. Bartle was a Tory in 
Radical clothing and Lord Plowden a Radical in Tory 
clothing. 

When the tribulations of the Primrose dames were 
communicated to the Post that journal counseled 
masterly inactivity on their part, while hoping that 
the good old cause would triumph. The Post main- 
tained that the party might have confidence in Lord 
Plowden, but could, not trust Mr. Bartle, and implored 
all genuine Tories to vote for the former. Yet the 
fact of Mrs. Bartle and her daughters being Primrose 
dames had the result of paralyzing the action of the 
members of the Primrose League in Slough. It 
would have been unseemly as well as injudicious for 
any differences among its members to be made public. 

The first time Lord Plowden met Miss Bayle at 
Slough he said to her : 

“ You see. Miss Bayle, I am doing my best to get 
into Parliament ; but I find the task quite as difficult 
as I told you it would be. I am a wretched bad 
speaker, so I fear I shall fail.” 

“ Father says you are going ahead and that he 
hears every body saying you are bound to win.” 

“ Probably he hears that ; but it is my friends who 
say so and they are as much disposed to be too favor- 
able as my opponents are the reverse.” 

Miss Bayle spoke so pleasantly and her manner to 
him was so much more friendly than before, that he 


THE PRESS ON THE ELECTION. 371 

felt inspirited. He gathered from her tone that she 
did not wish him to fail and resolved to work harder 
than ever. Besides, he had made a discovery of great 
value to him as a candidate. Though he stammered 
and felt confused when trying to speak extempore, he 
had no difficulty in remembering or hesitation in re- 
citing any thing which he had committed to writing. 
His first speeches were confused repetitions of his 
address. His later ones were much longer, more 
elaborate and delivered with fluency. They were not 
good pieces of composition ; but the forcible epithets 
and stilted phrases in which they abounded produced 
a far greater impression upon his hearers than his 
earlier and less artificial efforts. An ordinary audience 
is apt to consider a man an orator who bellows out 
emphatic statements. 

On the evening that Lord Plowden spoke to Miss 
Bayle he had a speech to make which had been care- 
fully prepared. It abounded in phrases of little mean- 
ing though the words were strong. As a piece of com- 
position it was contemptible ; but as a specimen of 
bad rhetoric it was a marvel. Lord Plowden was 
proud of the lavish manner in which he had peppered 
his sentences with epithets designed to make his op- 
ponents writhe and with superlatives to make his sup- 
porters applaud. 

After dinner Mr. Bayle said to his wife and daugh- 
ter, “ Let’s all go and hear Lord Plowden speak.” 

They went to the meeting and got seats near the 
platform where they could not be seen by him, but 
where they could hear every thing. The resounding 
sentences of Lord Plowden pleased and surprised 
them. 

“ I never thought our friend could spit it out like 
that,” was Mr. Bayle’s comment as they left the hall. 
He added, “ I felt inclined again and again to yell 
out ‘ Bully for you ’ ; but feared I might be misunder- 
stood and might interrupt the harmony of the pro- 
ceedings. I guess he could give points to many of 


372 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


our stump orators in America and whip them into a 
cocked hat.” 

On Miss Bayle the effect was electrical The louder 
Lord Plowden spoke and the more vehement his ex- 
pressions, the more intense was her admiration. She 
felt half ashamed of having done him an injustice, and 
she was convinced that he would certainly make his 
mark in Parliament. 

“ Well, Almy, that was an elegant and powerful 
speech,” was her mother’s comment. 

“ Guess you’re right, mother ; I never heard any 
thing like it.” 

Mr. Bartle found his work growing harder every 
day. Many persons upon whose support he had 
counted assured him that rather than vote against 
him, they would not vote at all. In accordance with 
his agent’s suggestion. Lord Plowden had joined the 
Cricket Club. He was a splendid bowler and a good 
all-round player, so he became popular with the crick- 
eters upon whom Mr. Bartle thought he had a claim. 

Mr. Bartle made several applications to distin- 
guished Radicals to come and address a meeting of 
his supporters ; but, with one exception, they declined, 
owing to other engagements and also because they 
felt no doubt about his election. The exception was 
Mr. Labouchere. The meeting at which he was pres- 
ent and spoke was the largest which had been held, as 
men of all parties attended to enjoy the good things 
which fell from the lips of that energetic and illus- 
trious Radical. Unfortunately the report of Mr. La- 
bouchere’s speech is very meager. The longest one 
appeared in the News and the following is the sub- 
stance of the more striking and effective passages. 

The report stated that Mr. Labouchere began by 
congratulating the electors upon having a candidate 
who was both a sound Radical and a determined foe 
to corruption. He hoped that they would never enter- 
tain that fondness for “paint” which was the weakness 
of the electors in the neighboring borough of Windsor 


THE PRESS OH THE ELECTIOH, 


373 


and of which he had unpleasant reminiscences. He 
warmly eulogized Mr. Bartle as a Radical of the true 
type and welcomed him as a great addition to the com- 
pact band of self-denying and serious patriots who were 
resolved at all hazards and sacrifices to regenerate 
society. 

“ For such a man as Mr. Bartle,” he emphatically 
declared, “ I have a profound respect. Once a horny- 
handed son of toil, he has risen from the lowest rung 
of the social ladder to a position where he can display 
a noble philanthropy.” 

Then, turning to Mr. Bartle who sat beside him, 
Mr. Labouchere took his hand saying, “ I consider it 
a pleasure of the purest kind to shake the hand of an 
honest Radical in the presence of my countrymen. Mr. 
Bartle, may you be as successful as you deserve.” 

Mr. Labouchere sat down amid loud applause. 
Mr. Bartle had been lauded, but he was not comfort- 
able. He winced under Mr. Labouchere’s compli- 
ments ; he resented being a “ horny-handed son of 
toil ” ; his desire was to be regarded as a country 
gentleman of the olden time and a philanthropist of 
the purest water. His wife and daughters felt and 
looked wretched. They could not endure any 
reference in public to Mr. Bartle’s beginnings. 

Though the speech did not please every body, it 
produced a profound impression upon the audience, 
A part of it which the reporter suppressed was devoted 
to a strong denunciation of Mr. Bayle and to a repe- 
tition of the statements in Truth about his having 
robbed the widow and the orphan. Mr. Bayle was 
present and indignant. He offered to attend one of 
Lord Plowden’s meetings and reply to Mr. Labouchere. 
This offer was gladly accepted and as many persons 
attended that meeting as had been present at the pre- 
vious one. Englishmen delight to hear both sides 
when each side indulges in strong and offensive per- 
sonalities. 

The report of Mr. Bayle’s speech is a full one ; but 


374 MISS BA YLE^S ROMANCE. 

there is no need now for doing more than extracting 
the salient points. Forgetting for the moment that he 
was not addre.ssing his fellow-countrymen, he began 
with : 

“ Fellow citizens,” whereupon an ardent supporter of 
Mr. Bartle and a constant reader of Truth bawled out : 

“ You are an alien and an American ! ” 

Mr. Bayled continued, “ Gentlemen, I am reminded 
that I am an American. I am proud of the fact and 
let me add that I am also proud to be present at a 
meeting of Englishmen loving, as I am told they do, 
to give a fair hearing to any one who has been at- 
tacked.” 

The applause was loud and prolonged as was natural. 

He began again : “ Oliver Goldsmith, one of your 

greatest authors, wrote once in the character of a citi- 
zen of the world. Perhaps you will allow me to feel 
that I stand upon the same plane as yourselves and 
address you as ‘ fellow-citizens of the world.’ ” 

The applause was louder than before and Mr. Bayle 
felt that he had got on good terms with his audience. 

He went on to say that he did not intend to interfere 
in their domestic affairs, that he took an interest in the 
election both because it was a novelty to him and also 
because he had the pleasure of being personally ac- 
quainted with Lord Plowden Eton : “ I shall leave 

this matter by simply saying that as an American who 
has always voted the Republican ticket, I should gladly 
vote for such a candidate as Lord Plowden if he were 
running for my district in Chicago.” 

At this the advanced Liberals applauded loudly. 
They foolishly fancied that a member of the Republi- 
can party in America must correspond to a Radical in 
England. The Tories, on the other hand, felt uneasy 
at the prospect of supporting a candidate whom Mr. 
Bayle vouched for as a good Republican. 

“Well, gentlemen,” he continued, “ I have heard it 
said you should not elect this candidate because he is 
my friend and that I am the robber of the widow and 


THE PRESS OH THE ELECTION. 37S 

the orphan. To this ray answer must take the form 
of a request. Prove it. Let me say right here that 
if any widow or orphan who has lost a cent through 
rae will make a claira which is not a bogus one, I will 
repay the money. Let them apply to Messrs. Curtis 
& Bennett, solicitors in London, prove their case 
and I will foot the bill. Is this a fair and square 
offer ? Is this enough ? ” (Loud cries of “ Yes, 
Yes,” from all parts of the hall.) “ Now then, having 
made my defense, which you have found perfectly sat- 
isfactory, I shall pass on to pleasanter topics.” 

The rest of his speech consisted of commonplaces 
in praise of “ the old country which had been the 
home of his forefathers,” and of statements that he 
had enjoyed himself in England more than in any 
other part of Europe. As a return for this flummery he 
was greeted with a storm of applause on sitting down. 

The torch-light parade took place the night before 
the election and attracted sight-seers from far and 
near. Mr. Bayle found it difficult to make the ar- 
rangements to his satisfaction. In the smallest 
American city such a procession can be marshaled at 
a very short notice. The firemen, the Odd Fellows, 
the negroes and the tramps are always ready to take 
part in it. 

“ You are behind America in this matter,” remarked 
Mr. Bayle to Lord Plowden ; he added “ your peo- 
ple seem ashamed of marching about.” 

“ Surely,” replied Lord Plowden, “ you have not 
seen the Salvation Army on Sunday, or you would 
think differently.” 

“ Yes, I have,” was the answer, “ but these people 
are of no account. They are simply amusing them- 
selves, while a political procession is a serious affair. 
In the first place, it must be very long. It always 
reads well in the newspapers that the procession took 
an hour to pass a given^oint.” 

“ But how can this be managed if there are few 
people ? ” 


37 ^ MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

“ Nothing easier ; distribute your forces. I once 
organized a procession out West in which not more 
than a hundred people walked, yet which took nearly 
two hours to pass a given point. It was considered a 
grand show. I made the people go in single file and 
at the distance of a few yards from each other. If 
one knows how he can easily make a procession reach 
to the day of judgment. We had some trouble in that 
case, as on turning a corner the processionists lost 
sight of each other and some turned down one street 
while some went down another. However it all came 
right in the end ; as they met again at the starting 
point. Besides, the reporters wrote that the proces- 
sion was so large it was obliged to divide into two 
parts and this made a stronger impression upon those 
who did not see it.” 

In the present case Mr. Bayle managed to get those 
who walked in the procession to keep in sight of each 
other and to follow the appointed course. The devices 
carried at intervals were illuminated ; some were cov- 
ered with appeals to all honest electors to vote for 
Lord Plowden Eton ; others represented boilers 
bursting and Mr. Bartle exclaiming, “ I am in very 
hot water now.” 

Mr. Bartle and his committee had felt certain of a 
majority of one thousand shortly after beginning the 
canvass. Lord Plowden’s agent boasted he would re- 
duce that majority by at least one-half. It was a 
great surprise for both parties when, on the result of 
the poll being declared late at night, it was found that 
Mr. Bartle had a majority of forty-five only. He was 
then in bed and ailing and the chairman of his com- 
mittee had to thank the electors on his behalf. Lord 
Plowden appeared and said a few words of thanks for 
“ the great moral victory ” which he had gained and 
pledged himself to contest the borough again. When 
he bade Mr. Bayle good-nighl, the latter candidly ex- 
pressed his disappointment. 

“ I have seen many moral victories,” he said, “ but 


THE PRESS ON THE ELECTION. 


377 


I don’t take any stock in them. I like to come out 
first. It seems to me that obtaining a moral victory 
is like an army performing a strategic movement to 
the rear. This sounds better than saying it was 
whipped ; but the fact remains the same.” 

Lord Plowden had none of the elation of a victor. 
He passed a restless night. Early in the following 
morning he called at the Red Lion Hotel in order to 
say good-by to the Bayles. He considered it his duty 
to do so. He found Miss Bayle alone in the sitting- 
room. 

She advanced to him, held out her hand and said 
with evident feeling, “ Let me congratulate you. Lord 
Plowden. Father says he thinks a moral victory of 
no account ; but I am sure he admires the good fight 
you have made.' I certainly do.” 

^‘Thanks, Miss Bayle,” was his reply; “you are 
very kind, and I am only sorry that I must bid you 
good-by.” 

“ How so ? Father does not talk of leaving England 
for at least four weeks.” 

Lord Plowden did not know what to reply. He felt 
more embarrassed than when he first tried to speak in 
public. After a short pause, and finding that Miss 
Bayle waited for him to say something, he continued : 

“ I have not forgotten your answer to my request at 
Monte Carlo and I know what I have to expect. Only 
give me credit for doing my best to please you ; I could 
not have done more.” 

Miss Bayle was embarrassed in turn ; but she did 
not show it except by speaking with greater hesitation 
than was her wont. 

“ I have not forgotten what I told you when you 
pressed me to say ‘ yes ’ or ‘ no.’ You took a rather 
unfair advantage of me. I was more anxious then to 
change my shoes than to get married. But — you have 
not asked me again ? ” 

“ What ! ” was his pleased exclamation, “ and will 
you give me another chance ? ” 


37 8 MISS BA YLE’S BOMANCE. 

“ Oh, yes ! you can run for Parliament as often as 
you please.” 

“ If you marry me I will try again.” 

“ Then I won’t say no.’ ” 

He took her in his arms saying, “ Dearest Alma,” 
and he kissed her. 

She made no resistance and she returned the kiss. 

On the evening of the same day, Miss Bayle wrote 
as follows to her friend in Chicago : 

“ Dearest Sadie, since I last wrote, unexpected 
developments have taken place, and I shall not accom- 
pany father and mother to America. I never thought 
I should marry an Englishman, yet I have promised 
Lord Plowden Eton to be his wife and every body 
seems as pleased as he is. He is a splendid fellow, 
very different from what I thought at first. He is 
going into politics and I have promised to teach him 
to run English politics on Western principles. He is 
a first-class speaker, quite as good as long John Went- 
worth whom I thought the finest I ever heard. When 
I have time to write I shall tell you more news, and I 
only send this line to give you the first information as 
I promised.” 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 


WEDDING PLANS AND PRESENTS. 

M r. BAYLE was longing to return to America. 

The reports which Mr. Jackson sent led him to 
think and say that his presence was wanted there “ to 
straighten things out.” Yet he was obliged to put off 
his departure till his daughter was married. 

Both he and his wife were perfectly satisfied with 
her choice and they were also relieved from the dread 
which haunted them that her fancy might suddenly 
lead her astray. However, they had now but one pre- 
occupation, the celebration of the marriage in a proper 
style, or rather this was Mr. Bayle’s chief subject of 
thought, his wife caring less about the form of the 
ceremony provided that every thing were done in an 
orderly and a complete fashion. 

It was Mr. Bayle’s determination to make what he 
called “ a grand splurge ” and to have his daughter’s 
wedding as much talked of in English society as the 
Vanderbilt ball had been in the society of New York. 

He found, greatly to his satisfaction, that he had 
attracted much more of the attention of the public 
since the announcement of his daughter’s engagement. 
This was brought home to him in the following way. 
The editor of Vanity Fair sent an artist with the 
request that he would sit for his likeness. He readily 
gave the artist a sitting and a photograph of himself, 
and he sent the editor a note filled with thanks and 
particulars of his life. Mr. Bayle was in doubt 
whether it would not be advantageous to forward a 
check also and he was on the point of drawing one 


380 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

for a thousand dollars when he thought he would con- 
sult Mr. Atlas whom he expected to meet at dinner 
that day. In this case his second thought saved him 
from a serious blunder. 

“ Send a check ! ” exclaimed Mr. Atlas in reply to 
Mr. Bayle’s question, “ I should not advise you to do 
so unless you wish to get into a scrape. Supposing 
you sent axheck to the editor of the New York Puck 
or Nation^ in order that either would praise you, do 
you think you would get what you expected in return ? 
I should not like to stand in your boots. The editor 
of Vanity Fair might make an allowance for you as a 
stranger and let you off easy. He would certainly 
suppress the cartoon and possibly he might intimate 
that you had sent him a sum to distribute in charity 
and that he had forwarded the amount to the poor- 
box at the Mansion House.” 

“ Now that would be no joke,” remarked Mr. Bayle. 

I hate wasting money by giving it to the poor. The 
business of the poor is to work for money and of the 
rich to keep it. I shall follow your advice, which will 
both save me a thousand dollars and prevent the awful 
consequences you speak of.” 

An early number of Va?iity Fair contained the like- 
ness which was scarcely a caricature and the following 
notice of “Miss Bayle’s father,” which he thought 
might have been more flattering : “ Six and forty 
years ago the father of Miss Bayle was born at Abraxa 
in the state of Vermont. Ezra Palgrave Bayle had a 
long and bitter struggle before reaching his present 
dignity. He admits that he has made ‘ considerable 
money,' but he does not think that he has enough. A 
millionaire is always asking for more. The fellow- 
citizens of Mr. Bayle admire and envy him. He is 
esteemed at' Marlborough House. 

“ English investors in Washout shares and bonds 
speak disparagingly of Mr. Bayle. They think that 
their money has disappeared into his pocket, while he 
contends that he has always acted on the square. In 


WEDDING PLANS AND PRESENTS. 381 

society he is perfectly harmless. He knows how to hold 
his tongue. He never boasts of the fashionable event 
of the day, the approaching marriage of his daughter 
to Lord Plowden Eton. He does not openly repine at 
his lot. He is short and thick-set. His wife is tall 
and slender. She is resplendent in diamonds. He 
always wears patent leather boots.” 

While the preparations for Miss Bayle's wedding 
were in progress, the death of Mr. Caleb Bartle, M. P., 
was announced in the newspapers. He had not risen 
from his bed since the day of his election. Like many 
other venerable men who are not satisfied with enjoy- 
ing quietly the wealth which they have laboriously 
acquired, he fell a victim to senial ambition. In the 
Liberal newspapers his death was referred to as a 
party misfortune : in the Tory ones his loss was treated 
as a good riddance. 

Another election could not take place till after the 
new Parliament had met and been constituted. It 
seemed to be treated as a matter of course that Lord 
Plowden would be a candidate and equally so that he 
would be elected. Mr. Bayle, who had taken a per- 
sonal interest in Lord Plowden’s election, was resolved 
that nothing should be left undone to secure success 
this time. He asked his solicitors to learn from those 
of Mr. Bartle whether there was any likelihood 
of his property being sold. They ascertained for 
him that the widow had a life interest in the 
property, but that the trustees were empowered to sell 
it and invest the proceeds in the funds, provided all 
the parties concerned desired this. Both Mrs. Bartle 
and her daughters were anxious to travel, this desire 
having remained ungratified during Mr. Bartle’s life- 
time, and they had, moreover, a distaste for the house 
in which the deceased had essayed and failed to play 
the part of a county magnate. 

Mr. Bartle had displayed his wonted shrewdness 
when becoming the possessor of the house and land. 
He took advantage of an act then recently passed to 


382 


A//SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 


have his title registered, thus the sale of the property 
was greatly simplified. His solicitor did not approve 
of the proceeding and he offered some objections. 

“ Surely,” said Mr. Bartle in reply, “ it can not be 
wrong to follow Lord Campbell’s example. I read in 
the papers that he was the first to have the title to 
his property registered under the new act.” 

“ Well, Mr. Bartle, I shall not dispute the soundness 
of a step taken by an ex-lord chief-justice and ex- 
lord chancellor ; yet I prefer the old system which I 
understand.” 

“ And which,” ungraciously interrupted Mr.^Bartle, 
“pays lawyers the best.” 

At all events the effect of Mr. Bartle’s action was to 
facilitate the sale of his property after his death. 
The preliminary agreement, involving a deposit of 
^£5000 to be forfeited in case the purchase should not 
be completed within three months, did not disclose the 
name of the actual purchaser. When this proved to 
be Miss Bayle, some surprise was displayed by the 
solicitors and their clients, but there were great rejoic- 
ings in Slough when the fact was known there. 

All very rich men resemble each other in reluct- 
ance to part with their money except for some act of 
ostentation which will cause them to be praised by an 
undiscerning public. A millionaire is generally the 
best authority as to where the cheapest things can be 
procured. Mr. Bayle was a shrewd hand at a bargain, 
and he shared to the fullest extent the millionaire’s 
weakness for accumulating and hoarding. 

At an early stage in his career he had resolved to 
put aside a sum which was to be exclusively 
his daughter’s. This fund he regarded as entirely 
hers and himself as its trustee. It amounted to a 
million of dollars and was invested in the United 
States 3 per cents. The income was reinvested till 
the total had increased by a half. Mr. Bayle consid- 
ered that the time had arrived for spending the greater 
part of the increment, which was equal to 00,000. 


WEDDING PLANS AND PRESENTS. 383 

With a part of that sum he paid for Mr. Bartle's 
property ; the larger part of the remainder he des- 
tined for buying a wedding present. He had the 
American fondness for buying jewelry, though he did 
not care to wear any. As has been said already he 
had loaded his wife with diamonds, nor did he grudge 
the large sums expended, as he regarded the outlay 
in the light of an investment which, though it yielded 
no interest, would retain, and might even increase its 
value. 

He learned that Messrs. Jehosophat & Co., were ' 
the jewelers patronized by the richest men in the city 
and he went to their shop in Bond Street with the 
view of ordering a set of precious stones from them. 
Having intimated what he wanted and asked the price, 
he was told that nothing worth looking at could be 
supplied for less than ^10,000. He then asked' 
whether a really splendid set would be furnished for 
double that amount ; he was told that only one or two 
very wealthy customers had ever had any thing so 
fine as twenty or thirty thousand pounds would buy. 
His answer was : 

“ Then supply me with a list to-night of what I can 
have for fifty thousand pounds and I will call again 
to-morrow and look at the samples,” He added, “ I 
guess that sum will fill the bill,” and then he handed 
his card upon which the address “ Slough House, 
St. James’s Square,” was written in pencil, under his 
name. The shopman had recognized from Mr. Bayle’s 
speech that he was an American ; he thought the 
address suspicious and he was afraid of being the vic- 
tim of a conspiracy. Accordingly, he said : 

“ I beg your pardon, sir, but when such large orders 
are given we usually require a reference. Perhaps 
you will kindly give one.” 

“ Certainly,” was Mr. Bayle’s prompt reply, and he 
added, “ Lord Rothschild knows who I am. I bank 
with the American International Bank, Trafalgar 


384 MISS BA VLE'S ROMANCE. 

Square in this city and the First National Bank in 
Chicago.” 

The shopman thanked him, noted the references 
given and flattered himself that he had shown great 
astuteness. He did not believe that Lord Rothschild 
had ever heard of Mr. Bayle, and he knew nothing 
about either of the banks named. However, as his 
principal would desire full particulars on his return, 
he determined to send a messenger with a note to the 
manager of the American International Bank. The 
reply brought back was to the effect that the manager 
would gladly cash Mr. Bayle’s check for any amount. 
Yet the shopman was not satisfied and, when Mr. 
Jehosophat returned, he told him what had oc- 
curred. 

“ What ! ” exclaimed the latter in an angry tone, 
“ how could you, Mr. Lawson, have had doubts about 
Mr. Bayle, the American banker and millionaire ? You 
ought to have known better. His order would be 
good if it amounted to a million.” 

The shopman was very sorry, but he appeased his 
principal by remarking : “ If I mixed in high society 
as you do, sir, I should not have made the mistake. I 
will take care it does not happen again.” 

“ Never mind this time, Mr. Lawson,” he said. To 
get credit for moving in the best society was Mr. ]e- 
hosophat’s weakness, the truth being that he was well 
informed about people of rank and 'wealth, but had 
never succeeded in becoming intimate v/ith them. 
Speaking in a cheery tone he added, “ Now, Mr. Law- 
son, we must do full justice to this order ; it will be a 
first-class advertisement as well as pay me well. Go 
and write a paragraph for the papers that Messrs. 
Jehosophat & Co. have been commissioned to sup- 
ply jewelry to Miss Bayle, the American heiress and 
beauty, and that no expense has been spared, and 
that such a fine set of diamonds and other ornaments 
has never been furnished by any London house.” The 
paragraph was written and found its way into some 


iVEDDiNG PLANS AND PRESENTS. 385 

carelessly edited newspapers through the medium of 
a news agency. 

Though Mr. Lawson could not understand why Mn 
Bayle should give a ducal mansion in St. James’s 
Square as his address, it is quite true that he was jus- 
tified in so doing. When talking with the Duke of 
Windsor about the approaching marriage, of which 
the duchess and he heartily approved, Mr. Bayle said 
that he must either hire a house for the occasion or else 
have the wedding-breakfast provided at an hotel. 

“ I know, duke,” he said, “ that your people do not 
like these things being done at hotels ; but in this case 
I can not help myself.” 

“ Have you ever been in Spain, Mr. Bayle, or heard 
of the Spanish forms of politeness ? ” 

“ Can’t say I have,” was the reply which Mr. Bayle 
made, while wondering what Spain or Spanish polite- 
ness had to do with the subject of their talk. 

“ If you had been, you would have found the cour- 
teous Spaniard assuring you that he was your most 
obedient servant, that his house was yours and that he 
would feel aggrieved if you refused to treat it as such. 
Take the Spaniard at his word and he will soon make 
you understand that you have blundered egregiously. 
Now I am going to act the Spaniard, only I mean what 
I say. During the few weeks you are in London, treat 
Slough House as your own. I have spoken to my 
wife and she agrees with me in making this offer. As 
you know, we are now settled here [that is in Abbey 
Park, near SloughJ and we shall remain till the spring. 
The establishment in St. James’s Square is not quite 
complete ; but I will give orders to the housekeeper 
to make the necessary arrangements and to treat you 
as her master for the time being.” 

Mr. Bayle thanked the duke and took up his abode 
in Slough House. His wife dreaded going there lest 
she should have to recommence housekeeping ; when 
she found, however, that every thing was done for her 
and that she had simply to express a desire for it to be 


386 


M/SS BA YLES ROMANCE. 


gratified, she expressed her satisfaction and wished, as 
she said, that she could “ organize ” her grand house 
in Chicago on the same footing. 

Before it was arranged that Mr. Bayle should tem- 
porarily occupy this house, a letter had to be written 
to the Marquess of Slough. There was an under- 
standing between him and his parents that their town- 
house was to be at his disposal whenever they were at 
either of their country seats. The marquess seldom 
availed himself of this permission, but he might do so 
on the present occasion ; hence the necessity of com- 
municating with him. Lord Plowden wrote the letter. 
The marquess corresponded at very rare intervals with 
his brother, but he would neither write to nor visit his 
parents. His habits were peculiar. A few sentences 
will suffice to describe him and them. 

The elder son and heir to the Dukedom of Windsor 
was in his youth a puny boy who early displayed a great 
proficiency in vice. Like the eldest sons of dukes he 
had his own way and it was a bad one. After reaching 
manhood he devoted his energies to the encourage- 
ment of honse-racing and theatricals. He constantly 
complained of bad health. He said that he was nerv- 
ous and he found that nothing soothed his nervous 
system so much as brandy. 

His chief place of abode was Newmarket. His fa- 
vorite society was composed of jockeys of the lowest 
class and actors and actresses to match them. He 
knew as much of the tricks of the turf as any jockey 
and he was as much at home behind the scenes as any 
actor on the stage. He kept horses and a theatrical 
company and he did not lose money by either. He 
used to boast that he was not easily done and the boast 
was justified by results. He had no scruples about 
getting the better of other people. An illustration of 
this may be given. Before attaining his majority he 
paid a visit to Baden-Baden, played at the tables there 
and lost all the cash he had with him. Money-lend- 
ers who knew his name and expectations were ready 


WEDDING ELANS AND FEESENTS. 387 

to make advances to him, but he declined to borrow, 
saying he preferred disposing of some jewelry. He 
had a massive watch-chain and he asked what he could 
get for it. He was offered and took twenty pounds, 
the buyer being quite satisfied that the Marquess of 
Slough would wear nothing but the best of its kind. 
The chain was silver-gilt and it had cost the marquess 
five pounds. 

Into the details of his life it is unnecessary to enter. 
They are very unsavory and not at all interesting. To 
none did his conduct give so much pain as to his 
parents, but they were powerless in the matter. He 
was a drop of bitterness in their cup. 

Yet this ignoble marquess had his good side. He 
never cheated or betrayed a friend and in his relations 
with women he was not ungenerous. If his life were 
to end suddenly, no well-informed writer of an obitu- 
ary notice would contend that a useful life had been 
prematurely cut short. Still, among his own set, there 
were many who would pay him the compliment of say- 
ing that he was not such a bad little fellow after all. 
It is to his credit that he avowed his determination 
never to marry and that he had passed the age of 
forty without breaking his word. Moreover, he had 
made a will and amply provided for those who were 
peculiarly dependent upon him. 

The Marquess of Slough saw Lord Plowden very 
seldom ; when the brothers met they were on the best 
of terms. More than once Lord Plowden had profited 
by a tip from his elder brother. When the marquess 
received a letter from Lord Plowden announcing his 
engagement and expressing the hope that he would 
not require to occupy Slough House, he sent the fol- 
lowing reply by return of post : 

Dear P., I saw your engagement in the papers. I 
congratulate you, especially as the lady has lots of tin 
as well as good looks. Take care of the cash ; the 
more you have the harder you will find it to do so, at 
least that is my experience. You know I never go 


388 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

anywhere so I can not attend your wedding. My 
nerves are worse than usual at present and Sir Oscar 
Clayton threatens me with no end of consequences if 
I don’t live soberly. He has cut down my allowance 
of brandy to half a bottle a day but this is a ridicu- 
lously small drink. Besides, I am going on a tour with 
my company, which Nellie Norfolk manages now, and 
I am sure they will rob me if I am not at hand to 
look after them. I write by this post to my coach- 
maker in Long Acre to send you an American buggy 
which he had imported and I saw when I was last at his 
shop. It is a queer spidery vehicle, but it may re- 
mind your lady-love of home. The two chestnut 
mares you admired so much when you were at New- 
market, Bonnie Bess and Moss Rose, are at your ser- 
vice whenever you choose to send for them. They 
are good both to ride and drive. This is all the 
wedding present I can think of. All good wishes 
and compliments to the fair American from your 
brother, 

Slough. 

“ P.S. — If you send me a word of thanks I shall 
never write again, S.” 

This was Lord Plowden’s first wedding present, and 
it delighted Miss Bayle as much as himself. When in 
a good-humor and not quite sober, the Marquess of 
Slough could write a pleasant letter and act like a 
gentleman. 

Lord Plowden wrote to Mr. Rupert Wentworth in- 
forming him of his engagement, and received the fol- 
lowing reply from Paris a few days afterward : 

“ I am delighted though not surprised to hear you 
are so ‘ well-fixed,’ as some of our people would say. 
After our conversation at Monte Carlo I had little 
doubt as to the issue of your wooing and I think my 
lovely countrywoman has nearly as good reason to be 
pleased as you have. I see by the papers that there 
is not to be any opposition to your election to fill the 
vacancy caused by Mr, Bartle’s death, If you are as 


WEDDING PLANS AND PRESENTS. 389 

triumphant in Parliament as you are out of it your 
ambition ought to be gratified. 

“ A gentleman whose acquaintance I made at Monte 
Carlo and who has been returned to the House of 
Commons, called upon me the other day when in Paris 
to rest from his election labors. His name is Vincent 
O’Lorrequer and he is a follower of Mr. Parnell. 
Though he does not agree with you in politics he 
would like to meet you. I suppose that a meeting can 
easily be arranged — I don’t mean in any hostile sense 
— when you are both in the House of Commons. I 
am not well posted in your politics and perhaps the 
version given by Mr. O’Lorrequer is not quite impar- 
tial. Yet while he still denounces the Saxon, I don’t 
think he is quite so fiery a patriot as he used to be. He 
confided to me that politics in Ireland make one ac- 
quainted with strange bed-fellows and, to use his own 
words as far as I can recall them, he explained his 
meaning thus : ‘ Between you and me and the bed- 
post, I am much more ready to vote with my party 
than to associate with all its members. I like my seat 
better than their company.’ 

“ I am tired of Paris. My uncle’s affairs are all ar- 
ranged and I think of starting on a visit to M. Pessac 
at Chdteau Beaulieu. It is not far from Paulliac, where 
there is a fairly good hotel. If you should be in the 
neighborhood during your wedding trip, please come 
and see me. I can show you something which will in- 
terest your future wife and yourself. Give my respects 
to Miss Bayle and be the bearer of my sincere congrat- 
ulations to her as of a small packet which accompa- 
nies this note. I appreciate your good feeling in not 
inviting me to the wedding. I shall be glad, however, 
to pay you a visit, as you propose, when you are set- 
tled in your own house.” 

The packet contained a brooch inclosed in a piece 
of paper upon which was written “To Miss Bayle, 
with Mr. Rupert Wentworth’s cordial good wishes for 
her happiness and that of Lord Plowden Eton. He 

f 


390 MISS BA YLES ROMANCE. 

hopes that their hearts may be as closely united as 
their hands.” 

“ Now I call this real nice ; what a lovely brooch ! ” 
was Miss Bayle’s delighted exclamation. “ And Tif- 
fany is the maker, too ; that makes it all the better.” 

Of course Lord Plowden agreed with her, though he 
was no judge in such matters and had never heard 
of Tiffany. But they both agreed that the present had 
been designed to give Miss Bayle pleasure in every re- 
spect, being not only beautiful in itself but the pro- 
duction of an American firm of jewelers. 

Indeed, as soon as Mr. Wentworth returned to Paris 
he occupied himself with devising a wedding present 
for Miss Bayle, feeling certain that she and Lord 
Plowden were destined to become man and wife. He 
rightly thought that she would value it the more if an 
American firm were its makers, so he went to the Paris 
branch of Messrs. Tiffany’s firm and gave an order to 
design a brooch in which the flags of the United States 
and the United Kingdom should be interwined, and 
two hands shown clasping each other beneath the 
flags. If the whole truth must be told the order was 
executed by French workmen, but then, as they had 
been naturalized, they were entitled to be called 
American citizens. Great skill had been expended 
upon the hands, the one being clearly that of a gentle- 
man ; the other of a lady. The brooch was a great 
success and Miss Bayle wrote a few lines of warm ac- 
knowledgment, which she penned with a feeling of 
remorse for her conduct — for she had never liked 
Boston gentlemen and had often been rude to Mr. 
Wentworth — and ended them as follows : “ I must 

say you Bostonians can do things in beautiful taste 
and ^if I ever said any thing to the contrary, I now 
take it all back.” 

Her next great sensation was receiving from the 
queen a present of a cashmere shawl ; but she was 
not so much impressed with this as she ought to have 
been, 

I 


WEDDING PLANS AND PRESENTS. 39 1 

“ What can I do with it ? ” she said, “ I never wore 
a shawl in my life and I can not bear one ; yet I sup- 
pose I shall have to put this one on or else be thought 
a wild Western girl. If it had been a sealskin sacque 
I should have been better pleased.” 

“ No, Almy,” remarked her mother who was pres- 
ent, “ don’t say that. I shouldn’t at all mind wearing 
the shawl ; besides sealskin sacques are quite common 
here.” 

“ But what am I to do, mother, about acknowledg- 
ing it ? Must I write a letter beginning ‘ Dear Queen, 
I am much obliged for the shawl. I never saw one 
like it before,' or what must I say ? In this old coun- 
try one never knows what to do next and I don’t 
mean to be laughed at.” 

“ Never mind, Almy, ask Lord Plowden and he will 
tell you what is right. You needn’t fear being laughed 
at here ; every body is always praising you.” 

Why, that’s just the trouble ; I am so much praised 
that I don’t wish to make some blunder.” 

Lord Plowden could not help her. He suggested 
that if she wrote it would have to be in some such 
form as he had heard that ministers of state used : 

“ Miss Bayle presents her humble duty to your 
majesty and returns her best thanks to your majesty, 
etc., etc.” 

To this Miss Bayle objected, saying “ that no one 
surely wrote to the queen in so absurd and ungram- 
matical a fashion ; ” thereupon Lord Plowden prom- 
ised to ask his father as to the etiquette in such a case. 
The duke told him that it was true official communi- 
cations from her majesty’s ministers were couched in 
curious forms, adding, “ You have lived long enough 
to know, Plowden, that these are matters of pure con- 
vention and that etiquette is not an affair of grammar, 
logic or even common-sense, that it is as antiquated 
and absurd as court dress. My advice would be for 
Miss Bayle to write in her own way ; what is well- 
meant can not be ill-taken by the queen, who will make 


392 MISS BA VLE'S BOMANCE. 

allowances for her which she would not do for your 
mother who is expected to be versed in all forms and 
ceremonies.” 

The duke’s advice being taken, she wrote as follows : 
“ Miss Bayle returns her best thanks to the queen for 
her kindness in thinking of her and sending such a 
beautiful shawl. Her father and mother wish her to 
return their thanks also and they would like the queen 
to know, too, how much pleasure they had in America 
when reading the queen’s delightful books. Miss 
Bayle hopes she may be excused if as an American 
girl she has made any mistake in writing this letter 
and she is sure the queen will consider it as being 
quite unintentional.” 

The Duke of Windsor proved to be right in think- 
ing that whatever Miss Bayle wrote would be well 
received. Both he and the duchess were in high 
favor at court and the queen had taken an interest in 
the marriage of their son. When on her way from 
Balmoral to Osborne, she had spent a day at Windsor 
and had driven to Abbey Park where she saw the duke, 
the duchess and Lord Plowden, had heard from them 
all that they could tell about the approaching mar- 
riage and had intimated her satisfaction. Hence it 
was that the wedding present had been sent. 

The other presents were many in number, but no 
catalogue of them can be given, as Mr. Bayle had 
agreed, at the duke’s request, not to furnish a list of 
them to the English newspapers or to make any dis- 
play of them at the wedding-breakfast. A long and 
detailed list appeared in some American papers, but it 
was unauthentic and chiefly the result of a reporter’s 
guesswork. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 


MARRIAGE BELLS. 

T he wedding took place at Westminster Abbey at 
Miss Bayle’s special desire. She did not suppose 
that any other American girl had been married there, 
and she felt sure that she would be doubly envied by 
her countrywomen when they learned how greatly she 
was favored. 

There is a strong desire in the Western mind to 
have a marriage ceremony performed in an unusual 
place or way. Thus one Western couple were proud 
of having been made man and wife up in a balloon and 
another behind the falls of Minnehaha. There is 
nothing eccentric in being married in Westminster 
Abbey ; but not every body can get permission. How- 
ever, as the Duke of Windsor was the personal friend 
of the dean, the matter was easily arranged. The day 
fixed for the ceremony was the 29th of November. On 
the previous day Lord Plowden Eton was returned un- 
opposed for the borough of Slough. This gave Miss 
Bayle a double triumph. The determination she had 
expressed not to marry him unless he became a mem- 
ber of Parliament was justified by the event, while her 
readiness to overlook his defeat proved her to be mer- 
ciful as well as exacting. 

Mr. Bayle had never been more thoroughly occupied 
than he was during the few weeks that preceded his 
daughter’s wedding. His mind was as full of plans as 
if he were bent upon making money by circumventing 
a rival in the world of finance. For the time, he for- 
got all about the Stock Exchange, being too much 
occupied with devising novelties for the wedding 


394 


MISS SA YLE^S ROMANCE, 


guests and the bridal pair to have a thought for any 
thing else. 

He found it less easy than he had supposed to ar- 
range about the guests. After some discussion be- 
tween the duke and himself it was settled that the 
number was not to exceed fifty and that each should 
invite half that number. The Prince of Wales had 
intimated his desire to be present ; he also intimated 
that he would be happy to meet any of Mr. Bayle’s 
friends and this simplified matters greatly. It was not 
till the preparations were far advanced that it occurred 
to Lord Plowden to ask who were to be the bride- 
maids. No one had thought of them. A lady nlarried 
for the first time counts upon having bride-maids : she 
can dispense with them on the second and following 
occasions, as she is then supposed to have acquired 
sufficient experience and fortitude to undergo the 
ordeal. Miss Bayle was told that bride-maids should 
be young, beautiful and either relations or intimate 
acquaintances of her family and that there should be 
two at least. Her mother, who was present, said on 
hearing these conditions : 

“ I guess, Almy, you can’t fix that nohow.” 

Miss Bayle had a happy thought and exclaimed, 
“ Guess I can, mother. Let father telegraph the 
Johnsons. The girls are not beautiful, certainly, 
though they think they are ; but they are young 
enough and won’t they jump when they hear they are 
to be at a wedding in Westminster Abbey and meet 
the Prince of Wales ! ” 

It is perfectly true that the Johnsons jumped at the 
proposal and started from Florence for London within 
a few hours after receiving the telegram from Mr. 
Bayle and returning an answer in the affirmative. 
They regarded the chance as a splendid one for getting 
their names paraded in public and they felt a genial 
satisfaction at the thought of how much they would 
be envied by their friends in Chicago. 

As the newspapers contained full accounts of the 


MARRIAGE BELLS, 


395 


ceremony in Westminster Abbey there is no need to 
give a description of it. The wedding-breakfast was 
chiefly notable for the number of great orators who 
were present and the small amount of speaking. 

The Duke of Windsor’s personal friends of both 
political parties were there, so that Mr. Gladstone and 
the Marquis of Salisbury, Sir William Harcourt and 
Lord Randolph Churchill met in perfect harmony at 
the same table. They had some experience in wed- 
dings as well as in politics ; but one thing was a 
novelty to them and to others, the canopy under which 
the happy couple were seated. Though common 
enough in America, this was the first that had been 
seen in England. Mr. Bayle had much difficulty in 
getting it executed. It consisted of two upright posts 
with a cross piece at the upper ends from which a 
large bell was suspended, the posts being covered 
with creeping plants and the bell being composed of 
flowers, with a large flower for the clapper and a coil 
of flower stalks for a rope. The bill of fare was Mr. 
Bayle's own devising and was a work of art worth 
preserving. Portraits of the bride and bridegroom 
were at the top. 

The bride was radiant with delight at the breakfast, 
not so much, perhaps, because she was married, but 
on account of an episode immediately before the 
breakfast which was not known to all the company. 
While seated in the drawing-room, the Prince of 
Wales approached her, shook hands, wished her every 
happiness and then he took a parcel from the Honor- 
able Tyrwhitt Wilson, who was in attendance upon 
him. Handing the parcel to her he said, ‘‘ Lady 
Plowden, I am very glad to be the bearer of this.” 

She looked confused for the moment on hearing her 
new name for the first time and said : “ I declare, 
prince, you quite took me aback. Thank you, how- 
ever, for the present. You have already sent me one 
which we all admire so much. 

“ You have already thanked me and I am pleased 


39^ Jl/JSS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

you all like it ; but you had better open the par- 
cel.” 

She did so and found two handsomely bound 
volumes under the wrapper, with the Windsor Arms on 
the sides. 

“ Oh ! how fine ! ” she said ; then opening the first 
volume she read on the fly-leaf, “To the Lady Plow- 
den Eton, with the kindest wishes of Victoria R. I.” 
At another glance she saw that the volumes were the 
queen’s “Diaries in ’ the Highlands,” and she ex- 
claimed, “ Well, I declare, this is too kind. I am so 
much obliged to the queen. Please tell her so.” 

The prince promised to do so and turned away. 
Thereupon Lady Plowden rushed to her mother with 
the volumes and then called to her father and the two 
bride-maids to come and look at them. Both her 
mother and the Miss Johnsons were more envious of 
these volumes than of all the other presents with 
which the bride had been laden. 

While the bride and the prince were conversing, 
the bridegroom was receiving congratulations ; the 
Tory chiefs expressing their pleasure that he had been 
elected as well as happily married. Lord Randolph 
gave him a useful hint after paying him hearty com- 
pliments ; he said : 

“ I see you’ve taken a leaf out of my book and made 
a careful study of Beaconsfield’s novels, but you must 
not take his phrases too literally. I found out long 
ago that many of them were written for effect rather 
than use. Read the newspapers and bluebooks if you 
wish to get on in Parliament. Besides, never mind 
contradicting yourself. The public rather like a man 
who has the courage to say that black is white, and 
who, when challenged for an explanation, says that he 
has nothing to retract. Besides, you will learn a good 
deal in the House that you can not possibly learn out 
of it.” Lord Plowden thanked him and promised to 
follow his advice. He was quite as warmly congratu- 
lated by Mr, Gladstone who said ; 


MARRIAGE BELLS. 


397 


“ 1 am very pleased that you are going to take an 
active part in politics. Though your father is not on 
my side, I have always regretted that he has kept 
aloof from public life. Judging from the reports of 
your speeches I am of opinion that you do agree with 
me on more points than you suppose, and perhaps, to 
use the phrase of one of my late colleagues, you may 
find salvation before long, after having found a hand- 
some wife. Pray introduce me to her.” 

Lord Plowden was delighted to make the introduc- 
tion, as it saved him from making any reply to Mr. 
Gladstone’s remarks, while Lady Plowden was no less 
delighted to shake hands and converse with the ven- 
erable statesman. Before mentioning what took place 
after the guests sat down at the table, it may be inter- 
esting to state that they comprised many familiar faces, 
such as those of Mr. Atlas, Mr. Harold, Mr. Gill, Baron 
Parkhirst and Mr. La Salle. Mr. King Edwards had 
traveled from Paris in order to be present. A repre- 
sentative American, whom Mr. Bayle did not meet 
when h'e was last in London, was Mr. G. W. Yale, one 
of the oldest and most esteemed American newspaper 
correspondents in England, and one who did not share 
the opinion of some of his countrymen that journal- 
ism consists in purveying thrilling stories and corrupt- 
ing the moral sentiments. 

Mrs. Bayle did not like the English custom of a 
heavy breakfast and many long speeches after a wed- 
ding ; neither the Duke of Windsor nor his son cared 
to introduce the American custom of a reception, so 
a compromise was agreed upon, and the speeches were 
limited to three. The Prince of Wales proposed the 
only toast given ; Lord Plowden and Mr. Bayle 
responded. 

The prince spoke as follows, to quote the report in 
the Afjierican Republican : “ I believe that, as so many 
speakers ^re present whose eloquence is powerful in 
Parliament and out of it, there might be some diffi- 
culty in calling upon any of them to propose the toast 


398 


MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE, 


entrusted to me without disappointing the others. I 
have then very great pleasure in asking you to drink 
the healths of the newly-wedded pair and of the 
parents of the bride, wishing the former a long and 
happy journey through life and the latter a short and 
pleasant voyage across the Atlantic. It is specially 
agreeable to me to see my friend Lord Plowden the 
husband of a lady whom we all admire and whom we 
gladly welcome as a new subject of the queen.” [Lady 
Plowden exclaimed loud enough to be heard all over 
the room, “ Oh my ! I never thought of that before. 
I’ve become a British subject without knowing it.” 
The prince heard the remark and continued.] “ Per- 
haps she did not realize till now all that she has gained 
by her marriage ; but I can assure her that all that is 
genuinely American in her she will retain and will use, 
I have no doubt, as her fair countrywomen here pres- 
ent have done, for the benefit of her husband and her 
new country. Mr. Bayle and his wife have not been 
long here, but they have pleased all with whom they 
have come into contact, and I am sure I intimate the 
desire of you all in expressing the hope that they may 
.‘:how their liking for the old home by soon revisit- 
ing it.” 

In works of fiction, heroes and heroines are miracu- 
lously exempted from the minor ills to which humanity 
is heir. In real life these small matters often play 
great parts. On the present occasion Lord Plowden 
suffered from a severe cold in the head. If he had 
been able to have had his own way, he would have 
preferred to be married when he was not so afflicted. 
Though determined to do his best as a speaker and 
though he had written out and committed to memory 
some sentences which he considered effective and 
appropriate, he was unable to deliver them owing to 
the imperfection of his utterance. Many of the guests 
were not sorry that he had to suppress his speech ; all 
of them applauded when he simply expressed the 
thanks of his wife and himself for the kind wishes of 


xMARRIAGE BELLS. 


399 


his royal highness on behalf of himself and those 
present, and asked to be excused, in the circumstan- 
ces, for not saying more. 

Mr. Bayle said, “ Your Royal Highness, my Lords, 
Ladies and Gentlemen : I know that my son-in-law can 
speak admirably, for I have heard him and I think he 
will prove this when he takes his seat in Parliament : 
but though, as I have read somewhere, Demosthenes 
could conquer stammering by putting pebbles in his 
mouth, no one has yet succeeded in making an articu- 
late speech with a cold in his head. I have often 
made speeches, but I never felt less like doing so than 
to-day, though I have not his excuse. I have been 
told that it is only at wedding-breakfasts that English 
people do not like to hear long speeches, and I shall 
gratify you, I hope, by giving you a very short one. 
When I left America for Europe I never thought I 
should feel it so great a trial to- go back to America 
and in saying this I speak for my wife also. We leave 
a very dear part of ourselves behind us and this will 
be an attraction quite strong enough, even if we had 
not been made so much at home in the old country, 
to return to it very soon. I can not say any more 
than to thank you all for your kindness and good 
wishes.” 

As soon as he had finished, the prince rose. Lady 
Plowden hurried off with her mother, both of whom 
gave vent to the emotion which they felt and which 
Mr. Bayle had suppressed with difficulty. 

The newly-wedded pair had arranged to pass the 
one half of their honeymoon at Druid’s Mount and 
the other in the South of France. They had planned 
a yachting voyage to the Western Isles in order to 
see the beauties of sky and sea which Mr. Black had 
depicted. But they were advised to postpone their 
trip to a more appropriate season, unless they were 
resolved to court the fate in real life which befell 
“ MacLeod of Dare ”in fiction. A special train which 
had been engaged to convey them to Druid’s Mount 


400 M/SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

was timed to arrive there shortly before midnight. 
No shower of rice or old shoes followed the brougham 
in which they were driven from St. James’s Square to 
the Great Western Railway Station. All the members 
of the household had been forbidden to throw either. 
Mr. Bayle had devised a substitute. At his request a 
keeper of carrier pigeons had made arrangements for 
messages to be taken between Slough House and 
Druid's Mount. Immediately after the brougham had 
departed, the keeper of the pigeons appeared with a 
hamper which was opened on the balcony of the 
house. Two pigeons flew out as soon as the lid was 
raised ; the birds rose high in the air, circled round 
two or three times and then took flight westwards. 

When the happy pair reached Druid’s Mount they 
were met at the door by a servant with these two pig- 
eons in a cage. 

‘‘ Oh, what pretty birds ! Are these more presents 
for me ? ” was Lady Plowden’s exclamation. 

“ Yes, my lady, and there is a message also.” 

A tiny sheet of pink note-paper, folded in three 
parts, was then handed to her. She opened the sheet, 
read the few words written inside and turning to her 
husband she said : 

“ Now I call this quite lovely ! I see now why 
nothing was thrown after us. I guessed father meant 
to give us a surprise by some hints he dropped.” 

The words were in Mr. Bayle’s handwriting and 
they were few in number, being “ Good luck and best 
wishes through your life’s journey.” U nderneath them 
were the signatures Albert Edward, Windsor, E. A. 
Windsor ; Ezra P. Bayle and Judith Bayle.” 

“ Now this will be put in the first page of the album 
which I mean to fill with curiosities and I shall keep 
these birds to remind me of to-day,” was the remark 
of Lady Plowden Eton, whose romance, begun at 
Monte Carlo, now culminated at Druid’3 Mount. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 


AN evp:ntful honeymoon. 


T he romance of a maid always ends with her mar- 
riage ; that of a married woman generally 
begins and ends with the honeymoon. It is with 
married folks as with the visitors to fashionable Aus- 
trian watering-places, who are sent to have an “ after- 
cure " at one place where the “ cure ” at another is 
completed. The happiness of the wedding day is to 
be perfected during the honeymoon, unless, as may 
happen, the honeymoon begins with disenchantment 
and ends with disgust. 

Lady Piowden avowed herself more charmed with 
Druid’s Mount on this occasion than when she first 
visited it. 

“ I never believed you had such a fine climate in 
the month of December in this country/’ was the 
remark she made to her husband after being there a 
few days. 

“ Perhaps you forget, my dear,” he replied, ‘‘that I 
told you winter was almost unknown in the south of 
England and that flowers bloomed in the gardens all 
the year round.” 

“ Well ! I did forget it ; and I am the more pleased 
with the discovery now. All I knew about the 
English climate was told me by those who thought 
London was England, but now I see that it is not so. 

Indeed, she was less anxious than she might have 
been to go to the South of France. However, their 
plan included a visit to Monte Carlo, for which they 
Started toward the end of January, both having a 


402 A//SS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

desire to see again the place where they had first met. 
Both, it should be added, were taking life in a serious 
fashion. Never before, perhaps, had a newly-married 
pair displayed so much zeal in reading books of a solid 
and instructive kind. 

Before his marriage Lord Plowden had a long con- 
versation with his father and received from him much 
useful advice as to the course he should follow in order 
to fit himself for his parliamentary career. If Lord 
Plowden backed a horse he wished it to win ; having 
become a member of the House of Commons he wished 
to distinguish himself there. Happily, he was con- 
scious of his own ignorance ; hence, he gladly accepted 
the suggestions of his father. 

“ You say, my boy,” remarked the duke, “ that you 
have much to learn, but that will render your task the 
easier. Those who think they know every thing, never 
acquire any practical knowledge. You have studied 
politics in Beaconsfield’s novels and you have found 
them interesting ; now you must learn something of 
them in reality, so I advise you to read Hallam carefully 
and Erskine May’s “ Parliamentary History.” When 
you are interested in any subject read all the blue- 
books about it ; the successful members of Parliament 
read blue-books, the others pitch them into the waste- 
paper basket.” 

Lord Plowden got the works of Hallam and Erskine 
May and took them with him on his honeymoon. He 
meant to train himself on them in order to be qualified 
for tackling blue books. 

He told his wife what he proposed doing and he 
found her quite ready to read the same books. She 
was as resolved as he was to get on in the world of 
politics, and she knew that her best chance of success 
consisted in advancing her husband. In concert with 
her he prepared the speech which he had promised to 
make to his constituents on his return from the con- 
tinent. His speech was reported at length and was 
commented on most favorably. Not a little of its 


AxV EVENTFUL HONEYMOON. 403 

freshness and force was due to Lady Plowden's sug- 
gestions. 

The happy pair prolonged their stay at Monte Carlo, 
where they had intended to remain a fortnight only. 
Lord Plowden should have returned in February to 
London to take his seat in the House of Commons ; 
but he was excused by general consent on account of 
having taken to himself a wife. However, he arranged 
to be back in England at the beginning of March. 
One of the reasons which caused him to linger was his 
wife’s desire to see the carnival at Nice. 

As many of his friends and acquaintances were at 
Monte Carlo, the sojourn there was the more pleasant. 
Mr. Atlas, whose company was greatly enjoyed by 
Lady Plowden and her husband, had paid it a visit 
along with his wife in order to bask in the soft air of 
the sunny South, but they soon wished themselves 
back in their comfortable English home, where the 
winds were not so piercing as on the shore of the 
Mediterranean. 

“ Is this what they call perpetual summer in these 
parts ? ” was Lady Plowden’s oft-repeated inquiry. 
She added, “ If that’s so, then I shall always think our 
Western blizzards highly suitable for invalids.” 

Mr. Beauvoir, who was present on one occasion, well 
sustained his part of the oldest inhabitant. 

“ I have never seen such weather,” he said to Lady 
Plowden with a groan ; “it is quite unprecedented.” 

“ Yes, sir, I guess that’s generally the case. Strangers 
always get weather different from what they ought to 
have. When I was first in London some Englishmen 
who had visited America during our Indian Summer 
told me that it always snowed there.” 

The Prince of Wales, who was staying at Cannes, 
came over to Monte Carlo for the day and he invited 
Lord Plowden and his wife to dine with him. 

“ Well, Lady Plowden,” was his greeting to her, 

“ how do you relish being a British subject ? ” 

“ I must say, prince,” was her reply, “ I can not 


404 MISS BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

complain as yet. I feel as the Mormon did when 
Artemus Ward asked him how he liked matrimony 
after sealing his sixth wife : ‘ I like it very well so far 
as I’ve tried it.’ ” 

Turning to Lord Plowden, he remarked, “ It seems 
but yesterday since I saw you here last, and yet I sup- 
pose you think, as Beaconsfield would have said, that 
‘ a great deal has happened since then.’ ” 

“ Yes,” replied Lord Plowden, with a presence of 
mind which he did not display in his bachelor days, 
“ some very pleasant things have happened, as far as I 
am concerned, and for this I have to thank the 
queen’s new subject.” 

No compliments, sir,” was his wife’s comment, 
“ you ought to know I hate them. In the West it is 
only professional politicians who pay compliments, 
and that is when they want to humbug ignorant immi- 
grants.” 

The party visited Nice to see the “ Battle of Flow- 
ers ” and returned half frozen. 

“ No more carnival for me,” said Lady Plowden, 
“ if one has to stand in the open air in such a biting 
wind.” 

Happily for the comfort and tempers of all the vis- 
itors at Monte Carlo, the weather changed from'' Arctic 
cold to tropical warmth, and each one congratulated 
the other upon the alteration. The wind was still ; 
the sea was like glass and the visitors felt the bliss, 
imagined by the poet, of dwelling in one of the “ sum- 
mer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of 
sea.” Both Lord Plowden and his wife were sorry to 
think that in one week’s time they must quit so en- 
chanting a scene, which resembled a vision of fairy- 
land. These were the thoughts which they cherished 
on the 22d of February ; on the morning of the fol- 
lowing day their views underwent a change. 

It had been settled that, before returning to En- 
gland, the happy pair should spend a day with Mr. 
Wentworth at Chateau Beaulieu. Wednesday, the 3rd 


A AT EVENTFUL HONEYMOON. 405 

of March, was the day upon which they hoped to reach 
Bordeaux ; and they purposed taking a passage for 
London in the steamer which leaves Bordeaux on Fri- 
day. This plan was adhered to ; but neither Lord 
Plowden nor his wife felt very happy between the 23rd 
of February and the ist of March, when they left 
Monte Carlo for Marseilles on their way to Bordeaux. 
A long letter from Lord Plowden to Mr. Wentworth 
will explain the reason for this and, as the letter con- 
tains several details of general interest, it may be 
given in full. The narrative, though devoid of liter- 
ary finish, has the merit of being straightforward and 
intelligible : 

“ Dear Wentworth, you must have read in the 
papers that we have had an exciting time here, and I 
am glad to say that we are none the worse for it. I 
thought that the winter months were very fine at 
Monte Carlo, but I did not know till my experience of 
the last six weeks that they were often colder than in 
England and that there were storms of wind which 
make the houses rattle. Still less did I think that we 
should have been shaken out of our beds and senses 
by earthquakes. 

“ As you know from my last letter, we are stopping 
at the Hdtel de Paris. My wife wished to go to the 
Londres^ but it was quite full when we arrived, so we 
were glad to find rooms at the Paris. They were on 
the third floor at the corner and close to the one 
which you had. The windows of the sitting-room 
look on the sea and two bed-rooms open out of the 
sitting-room. When the manager learned who we 
were he wished us to move down to the first floor 
when rooms were vacant there, but my wife liked the 
view and did not mind being high up, so we remained 
where we were. Besides, as we spent some hours 
every day working hard at our books, for I have much 
to learn since becoming an M. P., and your fair coun- 
trywoman works as hard as if she had a seat in Par- 
liament also, we liked the quiet of these rooms. 


4o6 miss BA YLE'S ROMANCE. 

“ For a few days we have had lovely weather. It 
has been so fine, especially at night, that we sat up 
late and last Tuesday we were later than usual. The 
air was pleasanter than I have ever felt it here. I had 
resolved to get up early to put some finishing touches 
to the address which I was preparing for my con- 
stituents. I had written it over twice and I wished to 
get it done so as to have time to make a few excursions 
before starting for Bordeaux. Perhaps on that 
account I was awake early. Just as daylight appeared, 
about six o’clock, I thought of getting up when a noise 
like a tremendous explosion made me jump out of bed. 
It occurred to me that some one had tried to blow up the 
Casino, but the noise went on and the room shook 
and the windows rattled and the walls cracked till I 
fancied that the hotel was going to pieces. I put on 
my dressing-gown and rushed through the sitting- 
room, when I found my wife opening the door of her 
room. She said, ‘I guess this is the end of the world, 
but I don’t want to go to Heaven till our honeymoon’s 
over.’ I told her to dress as quickly as possible ; 1 
went back and huddled on my clothes and in a few 
minutes’ time we went down stairs. Nobody was in 
the hotel, all the people having gone into the square. 
I asked the manager, who was standing outside, what 
was the matter and he said that it was an earthquake. 
I had never thought of that as I did not know that 
earthquakes took place at Monte Carlo. 

“ Somebody told us that the principal damage was in 
the Condamine and my wife said, ‘ Let’s go and see 
the ruins.’ I should tell you that I have never seen 
such a beautiful sunrise as that morning and the heat 
was intense. When we got to the Condamine we saw 
some houses with walls cracked and the roofs fallen 
in, but nothing was so bad as we expected. When 
we got back, the square in front of the Casino was 
almost deserted, most of the people having returned 
to their rooms. My wife wished for a cup of coffee, 
so I took her into the Cafd de Paris^ where we had 


AiV EVENTFUL HONEYMOON. 407 

coffee and sat for half an hour. It was then about a 
quarter after eight. When we left it the square was 
again full of people looking more frightened than the 
first time. They told us that there had been another 
shock and they thought the hotel was falling. We 
had not felt any thing and as we thought it a false 
alarm we went back to our rooms. However, it seems 
that the shock was really strong and did more damage 
than the first one. 

“ Most of the people who ran out had not finished 
dressing and the sight is one which you must imagine. 
I never saw women so much changed in my life. 
Many of them had much less hair and much paler faces 
than they had on other days. One old lady was a 
strange spectacle, as she had very little clothes on and 
a large cage in her hand containing a parrot, but she 
seemed quite contented. Many persons who had half 
finished dressing, completed the operation in the open 
air. They said that it was dangerous to go back to 
the hotel, but made their servants go backward and 
forward for their things. 

“ As it was too early to take our regular breakfast we 
went to the Grand Hotel to inquire about our friends, 
all of whom were safe and sound. Mr. Altas was con- 
spicuous, being the center of attraction, every one 
asking him what was going to happen next. He pro- 
tested against having any control over earthquakes, 
saying, ‘ I try to make the best of both worlds, but I 
decline to be held responsible for the doings of more 
than one.’ He was as full of spirits as usual, and he 
seemed to take an earthquake as a matter of course, 
though he said he had never experienced one before. 
He told us that the shock at eight produced more 
sensation at his hotel than the first. My wife wished 
to telegraph to her father, but when we went to the 
office we found it besieged, so we put off sending a 
message till later. A lady who often dined opposite 
us at table came back from the office much pleased 
at haying been able to send a message tP reassure 


4 o 8 miss BA YLE’S ROMANCE. 

her mother in London, who was an invalid and who 
she thought would be uneasy when she saw^the reports 
in the newspapers. I did not think the message would 
greatly soothe her mother, for it ran : ‘Tremendous 
earthquake. Frightful destruction. We have escaped. 
If alive will telegraph later.” 

“ During Wednesday we heard terrible stories of 
damage done elsewhere and some of the reports were 
so horrible that few people believed them, but they 
have since proved not to have been much exaggerated 
and the eifect of the earthquake here is nothing com- 
pared with other places. But every body seemed 
afraid of something worse between Wednesday night 
and Thursday morning and many people said they 
would not remain in the hotel but pass the night in 
the open air. All the carriages and omnibuses were 
requisitioned for that purpose. To show how nervous 
people were I may say that when we were at dinner in 
the restaurant a champagne cork went off with a bang 
and several persons rose up and rushed out of the 
room. My wife showed a pluck which does credit to 
your countrywomen. She said that she would go to 
bed as usual, as she did not see the fun of paying for 
a comfortable room and catching a cold by sleeping in 
the open air. 

“We both went to bed and got up about two o’clock 
in the morning when the house began to rock, and 
then we went down stairs and spent the rest of the 
time in the restaurant till six, when, as the expected 
shock did not take place, we returned to bed. On 
Thursday we went to Mentone, where the spectacle 
reminded me of what I saw when I went to Paris after 
the siege and when I saw the places round about in 
ruins. We both felt more nervous on returning that 
night to Monte Carlo. There have been slight shocks 
since but nothing serious has occurred, yet many per- 
sons still spend the night out of doors. Dr. Picker- 
ing, the English physician here, whom I saw to-day, 
tells me that he has a large number of patients ^uf- 


AN EVENTFUL HONEYMOON. 409 

fering from attacks of bronchitis and he says that 
those who staid indoors will have least reason to re- 
member the earthquakes. I write this on Saturday 
morning. 1 he panic has subsided owing, perhaps, to 
hundreds of persons having gone away. We shall 
start for Bordeaux as arranged next Monday. I shall 
give my wife this letter to read before sending it off. 
It is the longest one I have written in my life, but I 
thought you might be interested in learning particulars 
which may not be given in the newspapers. 

“ Since writing the above my wife has read it and 
she asks me to add her best compliments and to tell 
you that she is more reconciled than ever to staying 
in London because there are no earthquakes there.” 

Lord Plowden and his wife carried out their plan of 
visiting Bordeaux and seeing Chateau Beaulieu^ where 
Mr. Wentworth and M. Pessac welcomed them. 

It should be explained that they did not wish to re- 
turn home by way of Paris because, if they did, they 
would be expected to stay a short time in that city 
and pay a visit to the Countess de Flaubard. Lord 
Plowden had no desire to see his aunt, and his wife 
could not bear the thought of meeting the countess 
who had declined attending her wedding. When 
doing so the countess wrote that her son was heart- 
broken to think that Miss Bayle should marry his 
cousin. The truth is the countess felt the greater an- 
noyance and pain of the two, as she had set her heart 
upon securing the rich American beauty for her 
daughter-in-law. Moreover, she did not relish her 
nephew carrying off the prize. 

The day before that fixed for leaving Bordeaux, 
Lady Plowden wrote to her friend Sadie James for 
the first time since she had informed her of her en- 
gagement : 

“ Dearest Sadie, I never seem to have any time to 
write now. I have actually been married ninety days 
and feel like an old married woman. It seems ages 


410 M/SS BA VLB’S ROMANCE. 

since I was in America. Every thing is quite differ- 
ent from what I used to think it. My husband has 
changed most of all. You know from what I have 
written about him that I thought him an ignorant, 
good-natured and good-looking Englishman, but 1 
can not call him ignorant now as I find he knows more 
than I do about many things, though he has not read 
all the same books that I have. He is even more 
good-natured than before. He is now a member of 
the British Parliament and every body says that he is 
bound to get on in politics. 

“ We have been improving our minds during our 
honeymoon, as he had to prepare an oration to deliver 
to his constituents when he returns home and he 
asked me to help him. He promised to vote for 
every thing when he ran before and now that he is 
elected he has to try and get even on some things. I 
have made him change his line on the Woman’s Suf- 
frage Question, about which people are more crazy in 
England than at home — I mean in America. Since 
ever I saw and heard Susan P. Anthony orate on the 
subject I have been against women voting. Besides, 
married women are not to vote in England in any 
case, so I don’t see why the others should. My hus- 
band will now say that he will vote for Woman’s Suf- 
frage and for women sitting in Parliament condition- 
ally upon the women having separate polling places 
and a Parliament of their own. I know Englishwomen 
won’t like this, so I don’t mind their getting it. 

“ We spent several weeks at Monte Carlo before com- 
ing to Bordeaux where I now write. We had a fresh 
excitement in the form of an earthquake. I did not 
like it at all. But I don’t mean to weary you with 
particulars of my feelings. All the facts are told in 
• the Times and the Worlds which I send you. I must 
say that the account given by Mr. Atlas is very good 
and quite true. I am glad to think they have no 
earthquakes in London. The fogs are bad enough, 


AJ\r EVENTFUL HONEYMOON. 4^1 

but they do not prevent one sleeping quietly in bed, 
while an earthquake makes one always uneasy. 

“ We have seen Mr. Wentworth of Boston, who was 
engaged to be married before me, but the young lady 
died shortly before the time fixed for the marriage. 
We went to see the tomb at Monaco. I like Mr. 
Wentworth much better than I did, but some of his fine 
Boston speeches were hard to bear, as when he said 
‘ The possibilities of the future are not yet exhausted,’ 
in answer to my remark that I was very sorry for him 
and that he must feel awfully lonesome. He gave me 
a beautiful wedding present and I am sure he means 
well. Come to England and I will present you — no, 
I mean ‘ introduce ’ you to him. I am told that peo- 
ple are presented at court and introduced to each 
other ; you can’t imagine the trouble ! have in learn- 
ing all these things. For instance, we think nothing 
of repeating ‘ what say ’ when one doesn’t hear dis- 
tinctly, while my husband tells me that nothing sounds 
so vulgar and the person who says vulgar things in 
England is in a hopeless state. However, come and 
see me in London and I will put you through. 

“ Father and mother will be there inside of sixty 
days, and you could accompany them. Mother has 
written to say that father is closing up his business 
matters in America, having had a great disappoint- 
ment. He had planned some great project which is 
going to be a fizzle chiefly because an intimate friend 
who knew all his secrets has gone back on him. 
Besides, father has had another attack of sickness and 
the physicians think he will be the better for a visit 
to Europe. Your loving friend, Alma J. Eton. 

« P.S. — You must not write my name as I have 
done, but write ‘ Lady Plowden Eton, Slough House, 
St. James’s Square, S.W., London, England.” 

“ P.P.S.— Since I wrote this letter last night our 
plans are changed and we start in a few hours by train 
for Paris on our way to England. A telegram arrived 


412 jijjss BA VLB'S ROMANCE. 

this morning from the Duke of Windsor saying that 
Lord Plowden's brother was dead and asking him to 
return home at once. In consequence of this my 
husband becomes Marquess of Slough and I am a mar- 
chioness ; but I have'cnanged my name so much of 
late that I have got quite mixed as to what I am to be 
called and what I must sign myself. I feel as if I 
had been married more than once. My husband was 
thunderstruck when he read the telegram. He liked 
his brother, though he saw but little of him. I have 
never seen the brother and I suspect that he did not 
get on with the old people. However, I shall tell you 
more when I learn more myself." 

The death of the Marquess of Slough, though not 
unexpected by his associates, shocked his brother and 
his parents. Lord Plowden Eton felt that his position 
entailed fresh responsibilities. For both his wife and 
himself the change was fraught with new hopes and 
prospects. She could indulge in vast expectations ; 
his highest aspirations might now be gratified. The 
lives of the Marquess and the Marchioness of Slough 
are henceforth indissolubly connected with the social 
and political annals of England. 


THE END. 


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